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File of Building |
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Before describing the present building of the City Hall, founded only in 1957 although the foundation stone had been laid on 1920, let us remember the successive known locations of the Porto’s City Council.
The ruins of one of the buildings still exist, two others can be seen on some photographs and the existence of others can only be proved by documentation. There were nine known locations, as follows:
I – On the early 14th century the Porto councillors reunited on a wooden floor hut next to the wall of the Cathedral.
II – In 1350, by initiative of the honest men of the city, a stone building started to be constructed at the Cathedral’s churchyard or at the cemetery, not standing against the temple. It was a building with arches, presumably leaning against the fortified wall. Due to a construction flaw or to the bad condition of the wall, some of the piers gave in causing the fall of part of the City Hall, of a piece of the churchyard and of some contiguous houses. Magalhães Basto thought that this building was probably rebuilt but there is no certainty.
III – There is news that after the above-mentioned disaster, the municipal sessions took place at the St. Dominic Convent and were attended by many citizens.
IV – Before 1443 there existed a building, known as Sobrado de Rolação, Paço do Concelho and Paço da Rolação, on which the councillors had their meetings.
V – On that same year (1443) the City Council signed a contract with Gonçalo Domingues, carpentry master of the king, for the wood works of a new building. The ruins of this building still remain at Rua de S. Sebastião. This was an ashlar tower-house, crowned with battlements, with the main façade facing the Cathedral’s yard.
The ceiling of the Lisbon Castle inspired the ceiling of the upper floor room. The floor underneath this one was reserved to the Audience Room, i.e. the Judicial Courtroom. There was also, at the bottom, a store with the door to Rua de S. Sebastião. Since the store was unoccupied and was not necessary, the City Council decided to rent it in 1485. In the mid 16th century the walls of the building started to decay but the City Council only moved in the 18th century. The progressive decay of the 15th-century building became a danger to the surrounding buildings and to whomever passed by it. The demolition began in 1795.
The part that was kept – the floor that had an entrance by the Terreiro da Sé and the store that faced Rua de S. Sebastião -, where the House of the Twenty Four operated, was severely damaged by a fire that occurred in April 1875, which consummated the ruin.
VI – Since the City Council could not continue at the tower-house, the councillors agreed with the barefooted Augustinian friars – called “grilos” – the accommodation of its services at the convent, former St. Lawrence’s College of the Society of Jesus.
VII – In 1805 the City Council was authorised, by a royal decree, to move from the Grilos to the Pious House building, by the Postigo do Sol, where the Porto Civilian Government is located nowdays. This was a provisional remedy, since in 1793 the council had its eyes on a certain palace of Praça Nova das Hortas, on the corner with Rua do Laranjal.
VIII – The desired palace had a chapel in honour of the Three Wise Men and was built in the early 18th century by José Monteiro Moreira and his wife, D. Josefa Joana Salazar. Their son, Captain Manuel Eleutério Monteiro Salazar, inherited it and upon his death it went to D. Antónia Narcisa Monteiro Moreira Salazar, wife of Tomás António Leite Pereira de Almada, from Guimarães. The couple’s heir was their son Inácio Leite de Almada Pinheiro Moreira Salazar. He knew of the City Council’s wish and was open to negotiations but ended up selling the palace to the Agriculture and Upper Douro Vineyards General Company, by a 13 March 1816 deed. However, since this company was also aware of the City Council’s needs, it sold the building for the cost price, only adding the extra costs it had had. Therefore, ten days after the above-mentioned deed, the City Council was the owner of the Praça Nova Palace.
Once the building was adapted for the needs of the Council, the municipal offices started operating there on 21 August 1818. However, the accommodations were not entirely compatible with the development of the services and, almost fifty years later, the enlargement of the building was an urgent need.
The problem was solved by the council, presided by Viscount de Lagoaça, through the buying in 1816 of another noble house, contiguous to the acquired one and on the western side. This house belonged to D. Maria da Natividade Guedes de Portugal e Menezes that had inherited it from D. Maria do Carmo Brandão de Portugal e Menezes, widower of D. António de Amorim da Gama Lobo.
The City Hall remained at Praça Nova until the opening plan of the Avenue now called ‘dos Aliados’ was approved. The opening of the avenue forced the demolition of the two municipal buildings and of the houses that existed around Largo da Trindade. The City Hall had to be moved elsewhere.
IX – The Separation Act of the Church and State gave the latter the Bishop’s Palace, at the proximity of the Cathedral. It was a big building, good enough to solve the problem.
Therefore, on 18 November 1915, the Porto’s City Council was authorised to hire the old Bishop’s Palace as a temporary accommodation for its offices. On 3 February 1916 the Council started using the building and only abandoned it in 1957 when the building of the present City Hall was concluded.
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TRANSPORTS
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SCHEDULE
09:00 às 17:00
PRICES
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