Visiting Bahá’í Holy Places/House of the Master
House of the Master[edit]
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Who was eager to complete the construction of the Shrine of the Báb, felt He should personally supervise the erection of the building to expedite the work. He therefore considered the possibility of establishing a house in Haifa where He could be near the building project.
Immediately after the completion of the house, He moved a part of the family, including the Greatest Holy Leaf and Shoghi Effendi, who was then a young boy, from ‘Akká to the new home in Haifa. The Master joined them later.
It was this house which became ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s official residence after His return to the Holy Land in 1913 from the West. It was here that He now received the pilgrims. It was here, after the war, that Shoghi Effendi served as his Grandfather’s secretary.
As one enters the House of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the room on the right is the one where He took His flight to the Abhá Kingdom. After Shoghi Effendi was appointed Guardian of the Faith, he continued the Master’s practice of receiving guests in the room on the left.
The large central hall of the building is of special significance in that it was the venue of the gathering which heard the public reading of the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá announcing the exalted office occupied by Shoghi Effendi as Guardian of the Faith, and also because it was the place where the first International Convention in 1963 elected the Universal House of Justice.
At the south-western end of the garden adjoining this house, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá built a small structure, and He had the inner walls, the ceiling and the floor of one of its upper rooms covered with wood, as a protection against humidity. It was in this room that He slept at nights during the period immediately before His passing.