Rumor has it that Palacete Anjos whispers stories of Lisbon’s aristocratic past. Right here at number 20 to 22 Praça do Príncipe Real stands Palacete Anjos. It is a neoclassical palace with a rectangular layout. The Palacete Anjos has two floors and a raised roof in the mansard style.
The Palacete Anjos has two facades. The main facade faces the public road. The rear facade connects to a garden. The main facade features three sections. The central section stands out. It has three large doors and a continuous balcony. Pilasters alternate with openings. A balustrade tops it off. The side sections are symmetrical. Palacete Anjos uses classical design with restrained decoration. This contributes to harmonious lines. It reflects a Lisbon private architecture tradition that dates back to the 17th century.
Giuseppe Luigi Cinatti was the architect from 1874 to 1876. The building has a rectangular shape. Its volume is a horizontal parallelepiped. The roof has two slopes. It is covered with canudo tiles. The roof rises in a mansard shape. Nine dormer windows pierce it regularly. The facades have two levels plus the mansard floor. A frieze divides them above a cornice. Giant pilasters stand at the corners.
The Palacete Anjos is clad in stonework on the first floor. The second floor is plastered and painted light yellow. Windows are regularly spaced. They are mostly sill windows with straight profiles. The main facade faces northeast. It is organized into three sections. The central section projects slightly.
Three paneled wooden doors mark the first level of the central section. Wrought iron decorative grilles adorn them. Arches with prominent keystones frame them. They rest on pilasters with prominent capitals. Zoomorphic gutters flank the central door. On the second level are three French windows. Cornices supported by corbels top them. A continuous stone balcony with a wrought iron railing runs along them. Seven decorated modillions support the balcony. Three of them rest on the keystones of the lower floor doors. Pilasters punctuate this level. They alternate with the openings. A frieze and cornice top it. A balustrade punctuated by pinnacles surmounts it.
The side sections are symmetrical. On the first floor are three sill openings. They have double straight frames. Wrought iron grilles adorn them. On the second floor are three French windows. Straight cornices and wrought iron railings top them. Framed parapets top the side sections above the cornice. Pinnacles mark the corners. The rear facade has four floors. Nine openings regularly pierce each floor. Rectilinear stone frames them. On the third floor, a continuous balcony spans the central openings. The Palacete Anjos connects to a garden. A masonry wall with a wrought iron railing encloses it. The wall connects to the heavily wooded slope of Lisbon’s botanical garden.
Inside, spacious floors connect via a stonework staircase with opposing flights. The staircase is on the east side. The interior was significantly altered when adapted for the Bank of Portugal. However, a plan shows the original layout. A long U-shaped corridor and an axial staircase organized the space. The staircase started from the reception hall. Two staircases for domestic use were in the right wing. The first floor was for service areas. The left wing of the upper floor was for living. Lounges occupied the area marked externally by the main facade’s balcony. All divisions connected. They offered an alternative circulation path to the large corridor. Staff quarters were on the mansard floor.
The Anjos family was influential in the capital’s business circles in the second half of the 19th century. They were considered a paradigm of commercial genius and the bourgeois self-made man. Policarpo José Lopes dos Anjos acquired the palace from the Count of Cavaleiros in 1874. He commissioned Giuseppe Luigi Cinatti to completely rebuild it.
The Palacete Anjos has seen many uses. The United States Legation occupied it during World War I from 1912 to 1917. Later, the Higher Colonial School, then the Institute of Social and Political Sciences, leased the building in 1933. The Bank of Portugal acquired it in 1967. It installed services there. Today, the Palacete Anjos stands as a testament to Lisbon’s rich history. It reflects architectural styles and the lives of those who once inhabited it. Its walls could tell countless stories.