Living collectively: a “futurist” apartment building in 1930 Lisbon

Abstract

Architect João Simões (1908-1994) and civil engineer José Belard da Fonseca (1889-1969) designed this apartment building in 1935. It stands in front of our eyes as we drive along Actor Taborda street towards Casal Ribeiro avenue. Its futurist forms still surprise us. It was commissioned by Ricardo Covões, the manager of Coliseu dos Recreios, a major Lisbon concert hall at the time. Behind a five storey façade, there are ten small flats where it was possible to develop some professional activities in the front rooms, which were served by an autonomous circulation area.Such was the case of the 3rd floor, on the left side, a house of a dressmaker of the 1950’s-60’s, before the prêt-à-porter era. There we still can find the fitting room and its triple wall mirror and a kitchen, too small to embrace the huge Kelvinator fridge from the same period. The text aims at understanding the programme and design choices for this peculiar building of the Avenidas Novas (New Avenues), in Lisbon, along with its history which is probably coming to an end soon.