Fairfield House, in Newbridge,

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, England is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. It was the residence of

Haile Selassie I Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia ('' ...

Emperor of Ethiopia The emperor of Ethiopia ( gez, ንጉሠ ነገሥት, nəgusä nägäst, "King of Kings"), also known as the Atse ( am, ዐፄ, "emperor"), was the hereditary monarchy, hereditary ruler of the Ethiopian Empire, from at least the 13th century ...

, during the five years he spent in exile (1936–41). Following his return to

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

, he donated it to the city of Bath in 1958 as a residence for the aged. The

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

two-storey house was built around 1850, probably by

James Wilson James Wilson may refer to: Politicians and government officials Canada *James Wilson (Upper Canada politician) (1770–1847), English-born farmer and political figure in Upper Canada * James Crocket Wilson (1841–1899), Canadian MP from Quebe ...

, on Kelston Road in the northwest outskirts of the city. The house has significance to the UK

Rastafari movement Rastafari, sometimes called Rastafarianism, is a religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control o ...

because it was bought in 1936 by Haile Selassie I after the death of the previous owner Mrs Campbell-White, following a short stay at the

Bath Spa Hotel Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, while the house was renovated. He lived in the house with his family and staff for five years. The renovation provided a large double drawing room with two fireplaces, and a dining room with pantry. The rooms for Haile Selassie to meet contacts and supporters included a 'telephone room' or small office and the morning room. There were five principal bedrooms with rooms in the attic for servants. There are numerous accounts of "Haile Selassie I was my next door neighbour" amongst people who were children in the Bath area during his residence. In 1943 it was used as a home for babies evacuated from

Chippenham Chippenham is a market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village ...

. Haile Selassie gave the house to the City of Bath in 1958 during the visit when he was given the

Freedom of the City The Freedom of the City (or Borough in some parts of the UK) is an honour bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. Arising from the medieval practice of granting respected ...

. Fairfield House was used as a care home until 1993, when new room size requirements made it unsuitable for such use. Since then it has been used as a day centre by a number of groups including the Bath Ethnic Minority Senior Citizens' Association,

Age Concern Age Concern is the banner title used by a number of Charitable organization, charitable organizations (NGOs) specifically concerned with the needs and interests of all older people (defined as those over the age of 50) based chiefly in the four cou ...

, the Ethiopian Coptic Church and a Rastafari church. In 2014 a community group, Friends of Fairfield House, were negotiating a Community Asset Transfer in order to preserve and develop the house. In 2019 a

Community Interest Company A community interest company (CIC, colloquially pronounced "kick") is a type of company introduced by the United Kingdom government in 2005 under the Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004, designed for social ente ...

was established to support the running of the house as a community asset.

References

External links

* {{coord, 51.3902, -2.3998, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Grade II listed buildings in Bath, Somerset Royal residences in England Grade II listed houses in Somerset History of Ethiopia Country houses in Somerset Italianate architecture in England