WITH OUR THOUGHTS IN COVILHÃ

We are doing some preliminary designs for a substantial traditional building in the nearby area, and came across this image for inspiration. It's the steeple of the Misericórdia church in Covilhã. The church was allegedly built in 1601 but the steeple is from the 1940s! Probably designed by the same people who did the surrounding buildings, a feast of Fascist Baroque which would have made de Chirico's day - soon we will get to process the images for your viewing enjoyment.
As for the steeple, although the detailing is a little coarse and mechanical, its composition and proportions are lovely and add a wonderful touch of fantasy to the otherwise dull Plain Architecture temple.

BALCONY CORNER

The multiplication of different materials harmoniously blended at this corner in Régua is staggering. Plaster walls, stone balcony-cornices, painted corrugated sheet metal siding, clay tiles, wood trim and wrought iron railings.

WALL

A "tabique" wall in Mizarela, near Guarda. Horizontal boards, vertical boards, and wood lath before the final lime plaster layer.

DORMER

Bigger than any regular dormer, this attic storey in Régua has several charming features - the roof tiles, of the "canudo" type at the eaves and "marselha" everywhere else; the eaves themselves, of wood with projecting brackets; the gently swooping wood corners, made into pilasters by the addition of a simple molding at the top; and the door opening with a bizarre yet elegant combination of lattice vs minimal railing, all in wrought iron. The walls are "tabique": lime plaster over timber lath, on two layers of wood board sheathing placed at a different angle to each other; these in fact act as structure for a very thin and cheap traditional wall construction.

COFFERED WOOD CEILING

The coffered ceiling came from an 18th century church nearby. Casa de Santa Maria, Cascais

TILED COLUMN

Casa de Santa Maria, Cascais. Reclaimed tiles and ceiling, and a room shape that is most bizarre. The house was done in two phases, so perhaps the architect was forced to adapt the new wing to the old. Or perhaps he just wanted to pretend like he had to. In any case, he had fun.

GLAZED PORCH

Casa de Santa Maria, Cascais, Raul Lino.

STONE MANTELPIECE

Raul Lino, Casa de Santa Maria, Cascais. The texture of the limestone pieces is softened at the edges and chiseled inside, and this is carried through right down to the moldings.

CASA ABRUNHOSA

Private house, Covas do Douro

ZINC COVERED HOUSE

Private House, Viseu

HARDWARE

Casa de Santa Maria, Cascais, by the architect Raul Lino. Despite his practising of what seems like traditional Portuguese architecture, he is a recurring obsession of the modernist academic establishment, probably for what he preached in his books. Some will be written here about this in the future, as we have lots of pictures coming from our recent Lisbon - Cascais trip.

STAIRS

Palácio do Conde do Bolhão, Porto. The cornice detail can be seen here.

OUR HOUSE

This is where we live, in Porto. The house was built in 1927 and belonged to my grandfather's family. For decades, like so many houses featured on this blog, it was inhabited by an old lady who payed a measly rent and never did any repairwork, besides feeding hundreds of pigeons and seagulls every day, sometimes inside the house. The bitter fruits of rent control policies, which in this country were started by the fascists and continued by the socialists, are urban decay, price speculation and the engorgement of the suburbs.
Needless to say, when we started work on the house it was falling to pieces and we barely managed to save it. It was a developer's house, with a somewhat awkward internal partitioning and not very thick walls, but the details are lovely and it was easily adjusted to modern life, with no drastic alterations.
Right now it's being submitted for an award - wish us luck!

MARBLED SURFACE

Palácio do Conde do Bolhão, Porto

CORNICE WITH DOORS

This stucco frieze has French doors as part of the decoration, complete with arches, rustication and keystones. As if a mini-façade was inside the salon. The joints confirm this was a stock motif.
Palácio do Conde do Bolhão, Porto.

ON CHARRETTE

And will be back tomorrow... this is a small house in the Douro, walls are lime whitewash over slate.

FLIES

Palácio dos Biscaínhos, Braga. Painted insects on the dressing room wall.

ROOF TILES

Decorative eave tiles in Marinha Grande.

CORNICE AND HANDRAIL

Palacete Pinto Leite,  Porto

ERNESTO KORRODI - HOUSE IN LEIRIA II