The Casa de Santa Maria

The Casa de Santa Maria, has been recently purchased by Cascais council who have opened this intriguing building for visitors and tourist to explore for free. The Casa de Santa Maria has a prime location in Cascais overlooking the newly constructed marina and the Estoril coast line while the interior is unique fashioned with painted ceilings and recycled tiles.

The house was initial constructed in 1902 but under went two significant renovations altering both the interior and added further rooms. The earliest stages of the construction of the Casa de Santa Maria was funded by George O'Neil who was an aristocrat and had amassed his personnel fortune by the lucrative tobacco industry of the late 19th century.

George O'Neil commissioned architect Raul Lino to design the Casa de Santa Maria and was instructed to disregard common European styles of the era and base the project on materials found only within Portugal. This defiance of style and fashion lead the architect to be heavily influenced by the Moorish style of construction, which had shaped many of Portugal's finest buildings.

This Arabic influence is demonstrated inside the house by the horse shoe arches. The ground floor is lined with traditional painted tiles but these tiles where not commissioned for the house but salvaged from a crumbing chapel in the centre of Lisbon.

There were two further construction periods during 1914 and 1918 but the house was sold back to the the architect brother during the depression years after the First World War. The Casa de Santa Maria was owned by numerous wealthy families and European royal families up until 2004 when the council of Cascais where able to purchase the house.

As with all museum and monument of public interest in Cascais there is no entrance fee, though there is minimal indication that the house is open to the public from the main road into Cascais . I actual thought I may be told to get off private land as I wandered along the entrance road. Inside the staff were exceptional helpful and informative, speaking English fluently.

There are many intriguing rooms inside the Casa de Santa Maria including the boat room with it's views over the ocean and the ceiling painted with sailing ship. The garden is small but well maintain overlooking the new marina and the Light house.