Historic House of Santo André

• Order Date:

  May 2017

• Final Date:

  January 2019

• Client:

  True Memories, Lda

This is a building located on a plot with origins before the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, which devastated the entire city. With current civilian style architecture, the building was part of the old church of Santo André.

The oldest references to the Church of Santo André are from the beginning of the 13th century and are also mentioned in the Inquiries of the reign of Dom Afonso III. It was made the seat of Parish of Santo André in 1286, after a donation by King Dom Diniz. The church collapsed almost completely with the great earthquake of 1755 that destroyed the city of Lisbon and was the beginning of the end of the Portuguese empire. Up until 1779, the church had undergone reconstruction works. After the liberal wars (between liberals and absolutists) and the extinction of the religious orders, the filling of the church was sold and in 1843 the building was partially demolished for the construction of the square. Two of the exterior walls of the old church, as well as several interior structures, were used in the reconstruction of the new building in 1847, which are still preserved today.

In 2015, when we started to develop the project, the building was in a very advanced state of degradation which consisted of commerce and housing.

Our project at True Memories, proposes to transform this building into a single dwelling, maintaining all the original exterior walls so that the building does not lose its historic personality. The architectural project was forced to undergo adaptations as new archaeological discoveries emerged, and this rehabilitation was accompanied by the archaeology and anthropology services of the Lisbon City Council.

Inside the house, we can find original Gothic arches from the 18th century, stones with the inscription of the cross of Christ, arches with the marking of one of the original windows of the church and bases of stone columns. The largest panel of tiles that can be seen in the Museum of tiles was taken from this church. During the work, the original floor of the church was also found, whose mosaics of great value were donated to the museum.

This is one of the most historically valuable buildings in our portfolio.

Contact us to find out more!