Casa do Alentejo, Lisbon

Casa do Alentejo is a palace whose modest street façade opens onto an unexpectedly ornate interior. A stone staircase leads into a courtyard decorated in neo-Arab fashion, while nearby rooms include a mirrored ballroom and a hall filled with romantic paintings. The building began as a late-1600s residence for the Paes de Amaral family, whose Alverca title it still carries.

From 1917 to 1919, António Rodrigues da Silva Júnior reshaped the interiors for the Magestic Club, a casino that occupied the palace during those years. Artists including Benvindo Ceia and Jorge Colaço contributed to the decoration. In 1932, an association founded by people from Alentejo moved in; it became Casa do Alentejo in 1939. The association bought the palace in 1981, and its restaurant still serves regional cooking among painted tiles.