Tucked away in the middle of Salmaniya is a residential home you have probably never noticed. That’s a strange thing to be able to say of somewhere that’s a stone’s throw from the country’s biggest hospital, but somehow, it’s true. It also showcases the truth about Bahrain: it might seem small, but sometimes its spaces offer more than you can image.

 

Bait Il Salmaniya, as it has now been named, was originally built in 1968 as a residential home by architect Abdulrahman Fakhro for his brother, Dr Ali Fakhro. Dr Fakhro had recently moved back from the US and commissioned the chalet-style house. He would continue to live in the house until 1982, when the family decided to move further out to avoid the ever-increasing hustle in the country’s capital. 

 

“The house was our home, but my parents decided to move out when Manama starting getting busier to Bahrain’s equivalent of suburbia, which was A’ali,” founder Elham Fakhro said.

“At the time they moved, my mother was also a dentist, the second female dentist in Bahrain, and worked both in Salmaniya Medical Complex and in her own clinic in Adliya.

“It became ideal for her to take over the house and she turned it into a medical centre called Bahrain Dental Centre.

“She built an extension around the house that formed the clinic, and the aspects of the house itself were never actually used, and the clinic stayed open until the early 2000’s, when she retired.” 

 

In the mid-90’s, Elham’s mother, Suhala Alsafar picked up sculpture and the hobby quickly became a passion that eclipsed her love of dentistry. In 2008, she converted a section of the house into a gallery, although it was never open to the public. After a while, though, the space was once again standing silent, unused, in the heart of Bahrain.

 

“In the past few years I’ve been interested in doing something with the space, for quite a few reasons,” Elham said.

“There’s a lack of community spaces in Bahrain, and it’s badly needed. 

“It definitely wasn’t easy to convince my parents of what I wanted to do with it.

“It’s hard for parents to delegate that kind of responsibility to their kids, they keep asking what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.

“It wasn’t just my parents, my brother wanted to tear it down and build a five-storey building, but to me that’s exactly what we don’t need. We have too much of that already.

“It was a lot of insistence and putting myself on the line and asking them to trust me.”

 

At the end of the day, Elham said, they want the space to reflect the feeling the name evokes: something cosy, homey and friendly. Somewhere you’d want to come and stay, be inspired, and be an inspiration for others.

 

Welcome to Bait il Salmaniya.

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Written by Laala KashefAlGhata