Ferrand d’Almeida House

The house of Professor Ferrand Pimentel D’Almeida (1885-1962) was built in the second or third decade of the 20th century in one of Coimbra’s new expansion areas of the time, the Dias da Silva Avenue in the Cumeada neighborhood. Recently the house has suffered the unfortunate demolition of most of its interior walls and detailing.

The building has a conservative eixternal image, with a covered veranda along the rear eastern façade and over the building’s southeast angle. The blue tile (azulejo) panels that cover the veranda’s walls (dating from 1933) refer to localities and regions in Portugal dear to the owner’s family: Póvoa de Varzim, the Mondego and the Douro Rivers, Alenquer.

It is not clear who the Architect was and what was the date of the construction. A reference to the authorship of Augusto Silva Pinto (1865- 1938) appears in a text by Anacleto and Policarpo, However, information given by the 2015 proprietors indicates the possible authorship of Raúl Lino (1879-1974), the famous Portuguese architect trained in the German arts and crafts tradition. Apparently Lino (who is the architect of other contemporary houses in Coimbra) may have abandoned the work after an argument with the original proprietor, who apparently wanted to divide the house into two residences.

Some architectonic aspects, such as the access stairway which creates an external covered entrance area, recall solutions used by the architect in other houses of his design.

Another external set of stairs was added to the north side of the house in 1935, as is documented by the licensing process file in the municipal archives.

The students’ task was to elaborate a survey of the actual building and to produce drawings relating to the original elevations without the lateral added stairs. They also drew the different floor plans, with the original inner wall division that can still be inferred from today’s interior open space.

They were also able to establish some proximity with Raúl Lino’s house designs in such features like the covered stairway entrance and the relation between the entrance hall and the house’s main inner staircase. A good example is the “House in an Oporto suburb”, which Lino published in his 1933 book Casas Portuguesas («Portuguese Houses»).

• CRAVEIRO, Lurdes – “Raul Lino em Coimbra”, Mundo da Arte, no. 15. Coimbra, 1983, p. 31-44
• ANACLETO, Regina; Policarpo, Isabel – “O Arquitecto Silva Pinto e a Universidade de Coimbra”, in Universidade(s): história, memória, perspectivas (actas). Coimbra, 1991, vol. II, p. 327-346
• LINO, Raúl, Casa Portuguesas – Alguns apontamentos sobre a arquitectura das casas simples. Lisboa, Valentim de Carvalho, 5th ed. 1954 (Original edition: 1933)

Henrique Pereira  ·  Joana Mendes  ·  Luís Sil Almeida  ·  Marta Lourenço  ·  Pedro Lopes

2014–2015

Graphic elements revised by Rui Lobo, 2016