Abandoned Viscountess Mansion

“ Casa da Viscountess ” is a house full of history, designed by the famous architect Marques da Silva, it was inaugurated at the beginning of the 20th century. It was used as a filming stage for a youth series called “ Triângulo Jota ”

On a visit to the north, i decided to go there and were amazed at the vandalization that the house has been subjected to over the years, even though it is close to a GNR post, it did nothing to deter the vandals who passed by. In addition to vandalism and theft, the house also suffered a fire in 2011, it is not known who did it, but it is known that the house was a place for criminals in that area.

The owner of the house has an interesting story, it is said that he travelled to Brazil when he was just 16 and one day he became ill. To be cured, he had to travel to the south of Brazil to be treated by the Indians. When he finally got well, he thought about opening a pharmaceutical factory, with the intention of commercializing and improving the medicines that cured him.

While still in Brazil, he married a young woman and had six children . After several years, he became a widower and lost interest in staying in Brazil. He returned to Portugal, where he ended up meeting a lady, Dr. Torcato’s sister, who was a doctor. They fell in love, got married and decided to move to Porto. They made several trips to Brazil, for you to see your children and take care of the pharmaceutical business.

Because he was well known, rich and generous, King D. Manuel II gave him the title of noble knight and after some time, the title of Viscount . He and his family came several times to spend holidays at his father-in-law’s house and one day, he asked him to enlarge the house, but he did not give him permission, however, he gave him land so he could build his own house.

The house, better known as the Viscountess’s house , was then built , because his wife was also called that. None of her direct descendants wanted to keep the house. It was Mrs. Viscountess’s grandson, Engenheiro Afonso, also owner of the Marmoiral house, who took possession of it so that it would not be sold to people who did not belong to the family. Unfortunately, restoration work was never carried out on the house and it is currently very dilapidated.