RoseVille, written also as Rose Ville and known also as Villa Roseville, is a villa in Attard, Malta. One of the few Art Nouveau buildings in the country, it was constructed in two stages in 1912 and 1921 as a summer residence. After years of abandonment, the building was converted into a nursing home for the elderly in 2010.
Video RoseVille
History
Villa Roseville was built as the summer residence of Dr. Walter Briffa. The ground floor was built in 1912 to designs of the Italian architect Alessandro Manara. The first floor was added nine years later in 1921, to designs of the Maltese architect Emanuele Borg. Although the floors were built years apart from each other by different architects, both phases of construction used the same Art Nouveau style.
Briffa's family lived in the house until the 1970s, and the building was briefly used as an examination centre for the Royal School of Music. Following the death of Briffa's unmarried daughters, the villa was abandoned and it fell into a state of dilapidation.
The building was eventually restored in 2009 in order to be converted into a nursing home for the elderly run by CareMalta. The home was inaugurated by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi on 4 June 2010.
The building is scheduled as a Grade 2 national monument, and it is listed on the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands.
Maps RoseVille
Architecture
The Art Nouveau house consists of two floors, with a façade divided into three bays. The ground floor consists of an arched doorway flanked by an arched window on either side, and the first floor includes a pointed arched window above the door, which is again flanked by arched windows. The arched windows at ground floor level are subdivided into three elongated windows, and those at the first floor are divided into two.
Decorative floral motifs which echo French or North Italian Art Nouveau can be found in recessed panels above the windows. The recessed panels are painted in red and the motifs in other colours, making Roseville one of the few polychrome buildings in Malta. The house's interior includes Egyptian-style decoration which was fashionable at the time. Its boundary wall contains decorative ironwork.
Roseville is a unique building in Malta, and it is one of the few Art Nouveau buildings on the island. The house retains its original architectural fabric and decorations, as well as its fittings and fixtures.
Alleged haunting
Prior to Roseville's restoration and conversion into a nursing home, the house was said to have been cursed or haunted. In the early 1930s, a young girl who lived in the house allegedly died of mysterious circumstances and her mother died within a year. The house was then reportedly sold to a person who died soon afterwards. After some relatives moved in some years later, the eldest son of the family died at war, and another child, the father and the mother died soon afterwards.
References
External links
Media related to Villa Roseville at Wikimedia Commons
Source of article : Wikipedia
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