For the first time, this year’s Modernist Weekend extends its programme to Olhão, with a walking tour led by artist and writer Richard Walker. The tour explores the town’s distinctive Cubist heritage and lesser-known modernist architecture, including hidden architectural gems, a private Cubist house and a 1930s home that reflects Olhão’s unique architectural character.
The programme concludes at A Fábrica de Olhão with Boomcubist, Richard Walker’s art exhibition, and the opportunity to purchase a signed copy of his book Faro Modernism, published by Batsford Books.
The event offers a perfect opportunity to take a closer look at Olhão’s rich architectural diversity, from its iconic Cubist houses to its modernist buildings and other distinctive architectural styles.
The ARU plan (Urban Rehabilitation Area) of Olhão distinguishes 10 architectural styles / building typologies from 'Rural Popular' to 'Patrimonio Cultural' We show the three most famous examples of architectural styles in Olhão:
1. ECLECTICO / ROMANTICO / REVIVALISTA
These buildings often feature urban façades with a symmetrical arrangement of doors and windows around a central entrance. Openings are typically tall, with French windows providing access to balconies on the upper floors. The façades display a rich variety of decorative elements inspired by different architectural styles, including Neoclassicism, Neo-Baroque and Romanticism. Refined details often incorporate stonework and decorative tiles. Window and door openings may feature straight or curved lintels, frequently moulded and adorned with
decorative motifs at the centre. Elaborately crafted wrought-iron railings enhance both the balconies and the French windows.
Mouldings and cornices on the facade or at the bottom of the 'platibanda' decorated with neo-baroque, simple geometric or vegetal motifs that sometimes indicate the front or the middle. In special cases: pilasters, half pilasters, corner stones with worked frames/profiles and sometimes rounded corners.
Thanks for using the beautiful drawings of:
@Andreia Arrais / @andreia.arrais / https://www.facebook.com/andreiaarraisdesign/about / & for sale: Pinta Roxa store- Av. 5 October, close to the Olhão markets.
2. ARQUITECTURA ESTADO NOVO (1940-50)
Casa Portuguesa (traditionalism) / Portugues Suave
Façades feature double moulded bands, sometimes curved, forming symmetrical or asymmetrical compositions, particularly over wider openings where a simple arch would be insufficient.
Decorative natural-stone brackets support flagpoles, while projecting stone ornaments accentuate windows and doors. V-shaped openings or motifs are sometimes highlighted with stucco or natural-stone details.
Windows and doors are often surrounded by richly ornamented natural-stone frames, occasionally incorporating shell motifs. Ornamental consoles in stone or stucco appear beneath windows and elsewhere on the façades. Horizontal emphasis is created through continuous bands and framed sections, contrasting with vertical window openings and sometimes incorporating decorated or infilled panels.
3. ART DECO & Buildings with Art Deco influences
Façades are typically flat and clearly defined, with paired or closely spaced openings arranged in a regular composition. Pure geometric forms and flat roofs emphasise the building’s verticality. Façade details include pilasters, mouldings and serrated platibandas (parapets), sometimes shaped like fans or pyramids and often painted in bold, contrasting colours.
Decorative stucco panels featuring parallel, rounded profiles accentuate windows and doors, floor divisions, parapets and other façade elements. Other ornamental features include stucco reliefs, sgraffito, mosaics and glazed tiles with abstract or floral motifs. Balcony railings are made of wrought iron with straight geometric patterns or of concrete, creating striking contrasts of light and shadow.
Decorative motifs often celebrate progress and modern life. Some buildings feature rounded, solid cylindrical corners, reflecting early modernist influences. Earlier buildings may incorporate Art Deco details in their parapets and window surrounds, while others display Art Nouveau influences, particularly in their ornamental details and occasionally rounded corners. Art Nouveau elements are especially associated with the period around 1900–1920.
Photos: @beckyinportugal @sipa
