Detail of Rua dos Redemoinhos, highlighting a Gothic-style house, from the end of the 14th century, beginning of the 15th century.
Casa do Beco dos Redemoinhos, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, will be a T1 in open space integrated into the municipal affordable rental program. Work must be completed in one year.
Anyone walking near the entrance to the upper deck of the Luiz I bridge, on the Porto side, close to the Cathedral, not only sees a large number of tourists but also notices a facade under construction.
The device is the work of the Porto City Council, which is rehabilitating the oldest house in the city Invicta, dating from the 14th century and considered one of the historic arteries of the medieval heart of the Northern capital.
At number 14 Rua D. Hugo, the building, also known as Casa do Beco dos Redemoinhos or House of Alão de Moraisis being transformed into a T1 housing and spaces for services, in an investment of more than 363 thousand euros, according to this Monday.
The initiative is part of the municipal affordable rentalwith the completion of works scheduled for next year.
Acquired by the municipality in 2019 through the right of preference, the property has three floors and is classified as .
The future housing will be designed in open spacein order to promote natural lighting and ventilation, and optimize the use of space. The objective is to preserve the architectural identity of the building, ensuring the reversibility of the interventions carried out.
Located on a street with multiple names over the centuries, such as Rua dos Cônegos and Rua da Catedral, the house is also surrounded by historical heritage.
Between neighboring buildings The Porto Arqueossítio Museum stands out, which documents human occupation over time, the Guerra Junqueiro House-Museum and the Chapel of Nossa Senhora das Verdades.
Traces of modern and contemporary eras
Before construction began, archaeological surveys were carried out, which revealed traces of modern and contemporary erasbut without finds of great historical relevance.
“A level of embankment/leveling was recorded, with ceramic inclusions of contemporary chronology, which covered a sidewalk made of fine granite stone”, a sidewalk that was “destroyed in the eastern area of the survey for the construction of the granite wall that delimits the intermediate floor”, according to information from the municipal company Porto Vivo.
Despite everything, the rehabilitation is being carried out with special care, mainly due to the need to partially dismantle the original façade, correcting deformations, without compromising its historical integrity.
“The requalification will have an added difficulty, which is related to the partial dismantling of the original façade dating from the first half of the 19th century. XIV (façade facing Beco dos Redemoinhos), to correct its deformation”, says Porto Vivo.
The objective is to use “traditional materials and techniques in order to guarantee the preservation of the building’s identityaiming at the reversibility and compatibility of the solutions to be adopted”.
