Bouça Farmhouse

Bouça Farmhouse is an imposing eighteenth-century palace situated 3 or 4 kms from the town of Penela. The building presents a two-storey facade with turrets at the ends and is currently in an advanced state of degradation - practically irreparable if there is no quick intervention. The isolated and bucolic implantation, along the initial course of the Corvo river, was recently affected by the construction of the A13 motorway overpass, which rips the whole valley and cuts its horizons.

According to a recent doctoral thesis, by Ana Isabel Ribeiro (FLUC, 2012), the estate belonged to the Garrido family, and the house was built on the initiative of Pedro Álvares Garrido, shortly before his death in 1740.

The students carried out the survey of the house, registing the general organization of the building. The house has been changed throughout its history - the exterior access staircase that now exists, to the center of the facade, is not of the original construction. As Nogueira Gonçalves observed, the original door (on the ground floor) "connected to the central upper floor balcony, forming a set". The internal staircase, which would make the original access between the ground and the noble floor, has been altered and no longer exists.

In the interior the beautiful dining room stands out, with its eight-side pyramidal ceiling in stucco. Two passages for dishes, made out of wood, are placed in two of the dining room corners. Behind the house, with independent access from the outside, stands the chapel, It has a high tribune, to the house's side, where the owners could attend the celebrations.

In addition to the survey of the current state, the students made a proposal for the original facade of the house. A photographic record of the property was also carried out.

• AZEVEDO, Carlos de – Solares Portugueses: Introdução ao estudo da Casa Nobre. Porto: Livros Horizonte, 1988
• CORREIA, Vergílio; GONÇALVES, António Nogueira – Inventário Artístico de Portugal – Distrito de Coimbra. Lisboa: Academia Nacional de Belas Artes, 1953
• RIBEIRO, Ana Isabel – Nobrezas e Governança – Identidades e Perfis Sociais (Coimbra: 1777-1820). Coimbra: FLUC, 2012. Tese de doutoramento em História (História Moderna)
• Morgadio dos Garridos – Livro Mestre da Casa dos Garrido (178?-1822). Arquivos da Universidade de Coimbra – Ref. PT/AUC/PFM/MG
• SIPA

André Gomes  ·  Gilberto Gameiro  ·  Jorge Dias  ·  Miguel Medeiros  ·  Renato Rosário  ·  Sérgio Ribeiro

2013/2014