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Hotel-Museum to Open in Lisbon’s Junqueira
20 November 2017
A project for the conversion of the former Palácio dos Condes de Ribeira Grande – the former Liceu Rainha D. Amélia – into a five-star hotel on Junqueira Street, may be approved this Thursday at a meeting of the Lisbon city council.
The councillor for Urbanism, Manuel Salgado, is proposing “conditional favourable approval” of the pre-application for the “rehabilitation and enlargement” of the former Palácio dos Condes de Ribeira Grande, chapel and attached building into a “five-star hotel unit, together with the construction of space destined to house a museum.”
The proposal establishes that the decision is conditioned to the opinions of the Directorate General of Cultural Heritage (DGPC), which requires archaeological surveys, and Turismo de Portugal, emphasising compliance with legislation regarding accessibility.
The project, designed by the Metrourbe architectural office and promoted by Fibeira, headed by Armando Martins, has an area of 8,291.45 square meters (sqm) for the hotel and 1,162 sqm for supporting areas. The hotel unit is expected to have 128 beds in 64 accommodation units (two suites, 56 double rooms and six studio apartments).
The intervention is being conducted within the ‘special protection area’ of the Santo Amaro Chapel, the Casa Nobre Lázaro Leitão Aranha, the Burnay Palace and the ‘Pompeia Hall’ of the former Ega Palace, and on the perimeter of the Detail Plan of the Conference Center.
The socialist councillor’s proposal considers that the “urban operation [will have a] relevant impact” and that, for every 100 sqm of usable floor area, there “shall be assigned to the municipal domain 30 sqm for public-use green spaces and supporting areas.”
“The concessions, however, may be waived by paying the corresponding compensation, duly justified with support within the urban context,” the document reads.
The DGPC, according to the minutes of the evaluation committee, considered that the draft permit should “specify in more detail the project solutions” and that “archaeological surveys in the public space” should be planned before the intervention.
A new basement floor destined for parking areas is planned for the building’s public space at numbers 62 to 70 of Junqueira Street, as mentioned in documentation regarding the Urban Rehabilitation Area (ARU) of Lisbon.
Turismo de Portugal is conditioning its approval for the project during the licensing phase on compliance with legislation covering accessibility for the disabled since no detailed elements related to these technical standards were presented.
The building of the Palácio dos Condes de Ribeira Grande, in the parish of Alcântara, was used as teaching space for a long time, as the Arriaga and Novo de Portugal colleges and the D. João de Castro and Queen D. Amélia high schools – and is listed in the Municipal Heritage Charter.
The palace, whose interior is extensively dilapidated, is near the Egas Moniz Hospital and the Cordoaria Nacional and was built in the first decades of the 18th century.
The proposed favourable conditional approval for its adaptation to a hotel unit and exhibition space, with the rehabilitation of the palace and the construction of a new building, will be discussed at the municipal meeting on Thursday, November 23.
Original Story: Lusa / Diário Imobiliário
Translation: Richard Turner