Portugal has a single outstanding Art Deco residence, and it is here within Serralves Park. Casa de Serralves is also a National Monument. This was once the rural estate of Carlos Alberto Cabral, the second Count of Vizela and an industrialist in the textile trade.
He inherited the property in 1923 and commissioned this house. The French architect Charles Siclis created the design, while Porto architect José Marques da Silva brought it into being. Plans for both house and grounds evolved through repeated revisions before the work was finished in 1940.
The count finally moved in during 1944. Take a moment while standing still to follow the villa’s crisp, composed lines. The house belongs to a larger cultural setting: Serralves combines this villa, its park, and a contemporary art museum.
A later museum building, designed by Álvaro Siza Vieira, now forms part of the estate, and it is Portugal’s second most visited museum. The property entered public cultural life in the late 1980s, when the Serralves Foundation established a museum in the main house. Today, the institution looks after the contemporary-art museum as well as this remarkable Art Deco home and its grounds. From April through September, it opens at 10 in the morning and stays open until 7 on weekdays, with later closing on weekends and public holidays.
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