water patio farm

Quinta do Pátio d’Água is a Montijo’s historic landmark. Built as a farmstead and later, in the 20th Century twenties, adapted as a bourgeois house in a ‘Portuguese House’ style by Pardal Monteiro, architect, it also includes St. Francis’s Chapel – a place of important pilgrimage since the 16th Century. Quality materials used in the renewal, such as exotic woods, azulejo’s panels adapted from Pavilhão dos Desportos, in Parque Eduardo VII, Lisbon, Leone’s stained glass windows and stonework, hardware and eaves, last until today.

During the transformation into a Junta de Freguesia (a secondary local administrative unit), the existing elements were preserved and interior and exterior areas were enhanced.
Opening the back garden and also the gate along 25 de Abril avenue made possible a walking passage between different public facilities in the city centre. A new pavilion was built over a “water mirror” and gardens were improved, maintaining the existing trees. Due to its historic significance, an archaeological exploration was performed in the Chapel. The patio in front was repaved with Portuguese pavement and its flagstones were used for the Chapel’s floor.

A main building interior renewal adapted it for its new functions: Loja do Munícipe on the ground floor; administrative and customer services and Junta’s assembly room on the first floor; archives and Junta’s training rooms on the second floor. A properly dimensioned exterior panoramic lift solved the access problem with no destruction to the interior. Modern and refine new materials were used merging with the existing elements.