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U.Porto Memory

U.Porto - Buildings with history

Casa do Gólgota

The Quinta do Gólgota [Gólgota Estate] was purchased by the University of Porto to house the Faculty of Architecture, which had been deprived of its own facilities for some time. The Palacete Braguinha [Braguinha Palace], in Avenida Rodrigues de Freitas, where this Faculty had its original facilities, had rapidly run out of its logistics capacity. The location of the Casa do Gólgota made this property even more attractive as the General Planning Project for Campus 3 was already underway at that time (early 1980s) and therefore the new facilities of FAUP would be integrated in this university area.

The building was purchased by the Ministry of Public Works by deed of sale signed on 30 November 1984. The building was called "Casa do Gólgota" and was located at 215 in the street with the same name: the street at "the crossroads with Via Panorâmica, a beautiful belvedere overlooking the hillside of the right bank of the Douro River, within the road that serves Arrábida Bridge." (Memorandum dated 11 June 1984, included in the [process of] purchase of a building located in Quinta do Gólgota: Evaluation sponsored by the CEN of the building called "Casa do Gólgota" (…). In Projectos de Obras, folder 519 – Central Archive of the Rectory of the U.Porto).

In the process of acquiring a building in Quinta do Gólgota (In Projectos de Obras, folder 519 – Central Archive of the U.Porto Rectory), the house is described as follows:

"The old mansion consists of a garden plot, well cared for, with paved pathways, walled, with a stone fountain and greenhouses, a water mine [that] supplies water for irrigation, [an] annex consisting of one floor, with its attic being used as a garden shed. A house with 4 fronts and 4 floors – Ground floor - living room, hall, kitchen, storage rooms, pantry, wine cellar and toilet. First floor – large hall, living room, dining room, kitchen and study room. Second floor – 5 bedrooms, one with and adjoining sitting room and two bathrooms. Attic – 6 service rooms and accommodation for the staff, with one bathroom. Vertical communication – 2 staircases (main one and service staircase).
The construction [of the annex] [was done in] tiles over a wooden frame. Stone masonry walls, scoured and painted. Floor screed. [The] house– large house, old (from near the beginning of the century), solid, of a middle class type in current times, but undoubtedly a luxury at the time it was built.
Although there was nothing exceptional about its construction, the intent was to create a comfortable atmosphere through the use of marble pavements (hall and toilets) and the wood-lined interior walls. Tile roof. Wooden structure. Stonemasonry walls, scoured or plastered, painted or wall-papered. Wood flooring (floor, except in the hall and bathrooms (marble) and in the kitchen (mosaic). Painted wood window frames.
It has running water facilities (public and from a mine), electricity and sewage, all of them outdated.
Conservation – The house has been well cared for, therefore it is well preserved and can be used immediately, needing only improvements and specific alterations, required by the new users."

The architect Álvaro Siza Vieira, a teacher at the Faculty of Architecture, was chosen to prepare the restoration works on the Estate and House. The new facilities were handed to FAUP on 18 December 1984, allowing school work to be fully operational in that academic year in Campus 3.