In a 1900s building in Lisbon, António Costa Lopes and Filipa Fortunato have created an intimate hotel that feels like a family home - because it is oneOver the years, Casa Fortunato in Lisbon has been many things to many people. The first floor was originally a doctor´s home, while the ground floor was divided into several shops, their glass facades facing the wide, tree-lined street. After the second world war, it served as a meeting place for the city´s Japanese community; then, from the 1960s, Lisbon diners flocked to its marble entrance when it became a fashionable restaurant. By the 1990s a financial company had put paid to that, redecorating the rooms in global-business beige.Ten years ago, António Falcão Costa Lopes and his brother Alexandre moved the Lisbon outpost of their architecture firm here (their main office is in Angola) and the building´s fortunes took an upward turn. It is still owned by the family who had it built in the early 1900s, but under the Costa Lopes´ expert eye, various repairs were gently suggested and carried out and the building began to regain a cohesive character. Continue reading...
|
