It's our last day in Portugal; our last full day in Porto. On my own again, I'm taking a walk to check out some residential architecture. I am planning to see something a bit old and a bit less old: the Casa Da Prelada (1743-58) by our friend Nicolau Nasoni, and Casa De Serralves (1925-43) by Jose Marques da Silva. These are two of Portugal's most impactful architects; plus we will get to revisit the Serralves Museum (1997-99) by Alvaro Siza Vieira.
Apologies at the start for way too many pictures.
So I walk away from the city center and into "down home" Porto. This is work-a-day Porto, simple, clean residences, set in rows, of varying ages - very little graffiti, very few bombed-out shells, and with shops and markets mixed in. Modern commuter trolleys run, not "cable cars".
I turn a corner down a curvy, narrow lane, and see Prelada peaking above the tall plantings. I am first greeted by an impressive stone gate, with mermaids, cherubs, and a big crown. I like the corinthian-like pilasters with the extra volutes in the center. A sculpted stone wall makes a little plaza at the entry, over-hung with hydrangea, and capped with the locally well-known towers.
My guide, Luis, is in need of a smoke, so I take a few minutes to check out the gardens behind the house. There is a small, walled, formal garden to one side, and a boxwood labyrinth just behind the house. The house is being rehabilitated, so it's difficult to make out the stonework and other details. A big slatted metal box has been erected at the back, obviously to house some new modern operation.
Inside, Nasoni, the painter meets the the architect - there is trompe l'oeil marble and granite everywhere, along with poly-chrome woodwork. We enter a small, paneled hall, with a tall, arched entry door framed in (real) stone. Beyond the entry hall is a stair hall, and then a generous dining room with a beautifully striped wood floor.
We then head to the second level (third floor in American), and from the stair hall we enter the tower block, which leads to a series of formal rooms with faux paneled wainscot. These rooms are also being refurbished, and the coved ceiling in the last room is still stripped to the wood straps. The exposed ceiling includes lots of crazy shapes of rough wood, but is remarkably sound and clean.
Luis takes me to the back room, where there is a big meeting area within the big metal box, turning back to the house, there is a small stairway that leads to the attic - which has been amazingly re-finished and lit with a metal lantern. The room at the top of the tower includes a gorgeous little stone staircase that takes us outside to a lookout at the very top of the tower.
Back inside, Luis walks me down to the first level (second floor) where there is a big receiving room, with a quatrefoil in the ceiling and more trompe l'oeil marble panels. There is also a big library and research area which is being used by several serious-looking students (so no pics). The house if full of wonderful ideas and details; light and color. Will have to return when all the renovations are done.
The Casa de Serralves is an enormous, pink, modern-deco composition of rectangular parts, with a bit of stream-lining at the more significant corners. It has a formal garden to one side as well as in front. The structure is being used by the Foundation as an exhibition space, and there is an art show going on today.
The visitor entrance is a little bit hidden on the back side and around a corner. You enter a small dark-paneled room and step up to a big hall with a swirly iron gate. A series of large rooms are painted in creamy tones, and lead back to the formal side garden - including a double-height central court.
The last room has an energetic herringbone parquet floor, the side rooms to the back of the house are a collection of smaller spaces with unusual combinations of woods on the walls and floors.
Upstairs, the rooms continue with an impressive scale and a similar warm tone; no two rooms ever feeling exactly the same.
Okay - now a quick tour of some of the sculptures inhabiting the park: "Plantoir" by Claus Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen (2001), "Double Exposure" by Dan Graham (1994/2001).
Finally, we have "Walking is Measuring" by Richard Serra (2000) - which consists of two large core-ten still plates set some distance apart. Queue Richard Strauss; it's awe inspiring.
On my last day, I finally decide to try the grilled sardines at CaBARe: super smokey, oily (of course) and salty, they are delicious. As we walk home the smell of grilled fish is everywhere, people with plastic mallets are everywhere, too. And lots of very loud music - sounds a bit like polka music with a ton of bass.
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