House of the Viscountess of Santiago de Lobão

Category: Civil Architecture > Building

District: Porto > Porto > Porto

Location:

The Casa da Viscondessa de Santiago de Lobão is situated on the hillside alongside Avenida da Boavista, in Porto, right on the border of the Union of Parishes of Lordelo do Ouro and Massarelos. This elevated position offers an interesting perspective over the avenue's activity and the surrounding houses.

The building occupies an isolated plot, almost like an urban refuge, with a garden that creates a transition between the Boavista pedestrian area and the more recent adjacent dwellings.

Origin and history

Commissioned in the late 19th century by Lino Henriques Bento de Sousa, a viscount who had returned from Brazil, the house serves as a testament to the prosperity achieved overseas. The noble couple never had heirs, and with the viscountess's passing, the property was transferred to a charitable institution.

Recognized as a Property of Public Interest in 1982, the property has been adapted over the years for social support purposes, while still maintaining the mansion's original features and part of its Romantic-inspired garden.

Architectural style

The mansion has a rectangular floor plan, with a projecting central body and distinct two- and eight-pitched roofs, giving it an almost chalet-like profile. The crafted wooden eaves and cast-iron grilles, marked with the inscription "Fundição Arrábida," are details that reveal the attention paid to the decorative elements typical of the era.

The main façade also features a glass-enclosed balcony supported by iron columns, while the semi-basement and the attic on the top level suggest a spatial arrangement that favored light and ventilation.

Gardens and exterior environment

Surrounding the mansion is a garden of large trees, featuring exotic species brought from the former colonial world: jacarandas, magnolias, plane trees, and hibiscus are distributed along the paths, creating areas of shade and flowering clearings.

The space also includes various sculptural and utilitarian elements, such as a bandstand, an iron and glass greenhouse with stained glass windows, a small pond, and even a windmill, giving the ensemble a garden-museum character, where architecture and nature complement each other.

License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.pt