Heritage Avenida da Liberdade

Subject to careful rehabilitation, this 18th century building has come back to life thanks to a unique project. The work of Miguel Câncio Martins – whose interventions in the most cosmopolitan capitals stand out for their daring and creativity – the authorship of this reconstruction involves the diluting of the physical borders between the city and the hotel. Lisbon and its poets, the people and the life going on under the warm light of the capital are the main movers in the story recounted here.

A story which the traveller has to put together. Every day may be the justification for another plot. The photos of old Lisbon or the quotes by Portuguese poets like Fernando Pessoa and António Gedeão invite the mind to create. Works of art especially designed for the hotel such as the attractive collage by the renowned Iranian plastic artist Chayan Khoï stress the exclusive soul of the project.

Herbaceous aromas still persist in the recovered herbalist counter – also from the 18th century – now transformed into a «tea station», right at the entrance. The informal features characterising the excellent service of the hotel gain expression in the invitation made to the guests to make their tea. In the serene silence of the Heritage Av Liberdade which never lets you guess that you are actually in the city centre, the phrase by Fernando Pessoa prominent on the spiral staircase which leads to the mezzanine is revealed: “The world was not made to be thought about, but rather to look at it and to be in harmony”

Yellows and chocolate brown are the tones chosen for the decoration of the 42 rooms of this boutique hotel. The junior suite in the mansard is the exception. Thanks to the ingenious effect of mirrors in the sloping windows, the houses of the capital are viewed panoramically in a space outlined in silver and anthracite. Nothing was left to chance in this urban, Lisbon and Portuguese boutique hotel where History and Modernity intermingle in a contemporary concept of great elegance and well-being.

The purpose of the rehabilitation was to maintain the highest possible number of original elements: the 18th century façade, the ashlar, the railings of the verandas, the main wooden door and the shutters with the original iron fittings, as well as the Pombaline tiles in the interior, were the object of detailed restoration. In the exterior, the integrality of the architectonic design was maintained, keeping the elegant features which characterise the Pombaline age.

With its sober lines, the Heritage Av Liberdade building is linked to the history of the place and its reconstruction after the great earthquake of 1755. Erected on property of the illustrious Ericeiras family, it is located on the corner of the former «Passeio Público»@ - Avenida da Liberdade – and Largo da Anunciada, one of the most typical places in the capital. Today, in the city centre this boutique hotel manes to be a private place where the past and the contemporary spirit are in harmony. Like the beating of a heart.