Barão de Santos Palace

Located on one side of the Príncipe Real square, this palatial residence was commissioned in 1862 by Carolina Augusta de La Rocque. It served as the headquarters of the Japanese Delegation, until that country’s surrender in 1945, and up until the year 2000 has also been home to the Casa de Bragança Foundation and the Instituto Camões. It was built in an eclectic style, featuring Classic-inspired ornamentation – including an entrance vestibule and a grand staircase, spaces which determine the organisation of the rooms on all the elevations. The remodelling project was based on the idea of conserving as much as possible of the palace’s original typology and stylistic language. The raised ground floor and the bel étage were subjected to extremely detailed restoration work, which included re-making walls using period building methods and stucco work on the ceilings. The service floors, due to their typology and advanced state of disrepair, required greater intervention and invention. Here, taking inspiration from the Reservatório Patriarcal do Príncipe Real just metres away from the building, a stone indoor swimming pool was added that is noteworthy for its spatiality and scale.