The history of Fairview House
More than a century of welcoming guests.
A family home in 1910, the Fairview Inn from 1938, a bed and breakfast from the 1970s, and restored for groups today. The same house has been welcoming guests for more than a hundred years.
The house has stood in the North Highlands Historic District for over a century. It was built by a Highlands family, run as an inn by another, and kept open to guests through most of the decades since.
Much of what the first guests saw is still here. The staircases, mantels and cherry floors are original. The wraparound porch still faces the trees.
Today Fairview House carries that tradition on. Families, wedding parties and friends gather under one roof, four blocks from Main Street, the way summer guests did when the house was new.
Timeline
From the Rice family to today
- 1910
Built by the Rice family
Irvin Elias Rice, the Highlands town butcher, and his wife Lilly built the house in 1910.
It began as a private family home that occasionally welcomed summer guests.
A family photograph from the house’s early years - 1938
The Fairview Inn
In 1938 the house became the Fairview Inn under John and Ellie Potts. The hand-painted sign promised reasonable rates, signed Mrs. J.E. Potts.
The inn hosted actors from the Highlands Playhouse, longtime family friends and travelers who came up the mountain for the summer.
The original Fairview Inn sign - 1970s
A bed and breakfast
From the 1970s the house ran as a bed and breakfast. For a time it was known as the 4½ Street Inn, after the short street it sits on.
An old wayfinding sign: Fairview Inn, 300 yards - 2016
New owners
The current owners bought the house in 2016 and began planning a careful restoration.
- 2018
Restoration begins
Work began in 2018. Much of the original craftsmanship was kept: the graceful twin staircases, the original mantels and the rich cherry floors.
Every one of the ten bedrooms was given its own bath, and the grounds were finished with tall evergreens, rhododendrons and a south-facing terraced lawn.
Fairview House today
What survives
Original details you can still touch.
The staircases
Two staircases connect the three floors, kept from the original house.
The mantels
The original mantels still frame the fireplaces.
The cherry floors
The rich cherry floors are part of the original craftsmanship.
“The heirs of the Rice family, original owners and builder, thank you for the chance to visit.”Martha R., granddaughter of Edna Rice
Then and now
The theater is still across the street.
The Fairview Inn once hosted actors from the Highlands Playhouse. Today the Mountain Theatre Company performs at the Highlands Performing Arts Center, across from the house on 4½ Street. Guests can walk to a show.
Stay in a house with more than a century of guests.
Fairview House sleeps 22 in 10 bedrooms, each with its own bath. Book direct.