Antigo Hotel Vitória

Designed for housing use, this audacious 1936 building covered in marble opened its doors as a hotel and is currently the headquarters of the Portuguese Communist Party. Facing Liberdade Avenue, the 16.5 metres long façade stands out for its concave sixth floor and balconies ending in a series of overlapping theatrical circular cornering structures. The composition conjugates the sober integrity of Modernism with the lyrical playfulness of Art Déco. The furniture and all the decoration came from the famous “Grandes Armazéns Nascimento”, in Porto. With sober and exquisite interiors, its lavish rooms were inhabited by German spies, during the Second World War. Today, these memories remain in the imagination of those who look at the Vitória, travelling through the golden 30s. The building’s experience of glamour got to its end by the late 1960s, when the hotel closed its doors. It was occupied again in 1976, when it gave shelter to the headquarters of the Portuguese Communist Party.