Chalet Biester (English) by Chalet Biester

Chalet

Biester

Chalet Biester

Background and Location Sintra was nostalgic and mysterious place mentioned in the roadmap drawn up by foreigners who visited Portugal in the second half of the eighteenth century and throughout the nineteenth century, the romantic “Glorious Eden” Lord Byron, the “pleasant resort”, de Almeida Garrett, the “ love nest [where] the branches under the romantic noble was abandoned in hugs Poets (...) the walks in the moonlight Seteais slowly on the grass pale with large pillows silent in Penedo da Saudade, seeing the valley. Under the arch, such as in a heavy frame stone glowed in the light rich afternoon, a wonderful picture of a composition almost fantastic, as illustration of a beautiful legend of chivalry and love”, as wrote Eça de Queiróz in Os Maias, or the alchemical place where Richard Strauss saw, no comparison to “Italy, Sicily, Greece and Egypt, a true garden of Klingsor – and, high above the castle of the Holy Grail.” The landscape of the Sintra hills and the ruins of the former convent of Our Lady of Pena marveled King Consort Ferdinand II of Portugal, having decided to acquire this old convent, about engaging the Moorish Castle and the surrounding farms and woods, where built the Palace of Pena { fig. 01 }, whose work would be com-

{ fig. 01 }

pleted in 1847. During the reign of Carlos I of Portugal, the royal family often occupied the palace became the residence of Queen preferred home Amelia. The extended stay of the Royal Family, and the opening of the railway lines to Sintra, April 2, 1887, Cascais and two years later, contributed to the emergence of a new type of housing, with plant and reduced program. These buildings are not designated palaces, but Chalets, the self-consciousness of it is a space whose attitude presupposes summer

chalet biester – background and location

informality, cultural innovation at the time. The Chalet, initially the sole property of the aristocracy orbiting the court, was gradually becoming the model for the bourgeoisie aspired to ways of life corresponding to the higher social status. The Cultural Landscape of Sintra, classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995, is today one of the most visited tourist destinations in the country. According to the UNESCO report, “...the Cultural Landscape of Sintra, with its hills, is an extraordinary and unique complex of parks, gardens, villas, monasteries and castles that create a popular architecture and cultured harmonized with the abundant and exotic vegetation creating micro-landscapes of exotic beauty and luxurious.” Today the most distinguished of these are converted into museums or hotels, being accessible to the public. These buildings have retained their unique beauty, but many have lost their aura of mystery and its original vocation as a private residence. One of the few exceptions is the Chalet Biester, whose steep black roofs can all envision when soaring addressing the Pena Palace { fig. 2}, but it holds, discreet, their secrets, nurtured

{ fig. 2 }

over the years myths and legends their respect.

chalet biester – background and location

The owner: Frederico Biester The name of the Chalet perpetuates the name of their original owner, but his identity has fallen into oblivion, giving rise to several versions. However, about the names of the authors of architectural and sumptuous decorations and garden were contemporary records. Some authors point out as owner Ernesto Biester, playwright and theatrical entrepreneur connected to the National Theatre D. Maria II { fig. 3}, author of pieces much in vogue at the end of 19th century, as A Mãe dos Pobres (The Mother of the Poor) or O Xerez da Viscondessa (The Viscountess’s Sherry). We shall see later that his brother is the one who seems to be the legitimate “Biester”. Frederico Biester (Senior), married with Maria da

{ fig. 3 }

Luz Ataíde (Athayde in the spelling of the time) in 1827, had three daughters and two sons (João) Ernesto Biester, playwright (1829-1880) and Frederico Biester “Junior “(1833 - May 1899). It seems clear that the owner of the Chalet has been Frederico Biester (Junior) from the Monogram logo painted on the main staircase of the house - one with the flaming shield initials “FB” at the feet of a maiden. Besides the correspondence of biographical data, we also found the obituary in the local newspapers, referring in May 1899 death of Mr. Frederico Biester, “owner of the Chalet Biester”.

chalet biester – the owner

Frederico Biester (Junior) was born in the parish of Martyrs in Lisbon, February 16, 1833. Son of the “honored Lisbon merchant” Frederico Biester and Maria da Luz de Ataíde; married in September 22, 1870 with Amélia de Freitas Chamiço (born July 28, 1843, and only daughter of the oporto merchant Fortunato de Oliveira Chamiço Junior, founder of the Casa Bancária Fortunato Chamiço Junior & C.ª that would lead to the Totta bank). Frederico Biester died in March 1899, childless, having his wife inherited a large fortune and the Chalet. With her death, her aunt D. Claudina de Freitas Chamiço inherits the Chalet (D. Claudina also inherited a fabulous fortune by her husband). Of the remaining owners until the present, little is know.

chalet biester – the owner

The Chalet Frederico Biester has commissioned a project for your home Sintra to already established architect José Luíz Monteiro in 1880 and entrusted to the painter and stage designer decor Luigi Manini and sculptor Leandro Braga. The work began in May 1886 and ended in 1890. Newly arrived in Portugal after his training in Paris and Italy, between 1873 and 1879, the Chalet Biester was one of the first projects of José Luiz Monteiro { fig. 4 }, assuming great importance in the whole of his work and the set of romantic experiences and revival of Portuguese architecture of the time. The exceptional

{ fig. 4 }

nature of this construction is due primarily to the adoption of a mixture of neo-Gothic and neo-Romanesque architecture applied to domestic bourgeois end of the century. The architectural design of the intervention appears dissociated sculptural and ornamental, whose relationship is valued by the establishment of deliberate visual and distributional relationships between spaces. Apparently, by imposition of the owner, the Chalet offers a set of volumetric unusual architecture in the region seems to be part of an imaginary scenario, an opera or a thriller. The roofs and steep blacks refer us to transalpine area. Them stand unpretentious dormers and a frieze metallic delivers them in an elegant way { fig. 5 }. These roofs and the sobriety of exterior

{ fig. 5 }

lines contrast, sometimes with elements like the tower, where two massive rip vertical windows protected by neo-Gothic stained glass, they also neo-Gothic and Christian-themed and geometric. On the other hand, the facades coexist harmoniously elements of various architectural styles and decorative. In the main elevation, right, stands the circular tower, torn by long neo-Gothic windows and crowned

chalet biester – the chalet

by a conical roof. The main access to the building is marked by the existence of a porch. Within the porch is open divided by two arcs a graceful column. The porch is topped by a balcony, where two arcs appear identical. The Art historian Pedro Dias, in his book Landmarks of Portuguese Art (Pub. Alpha, Lisbon, 1986, n. 149) says: “A more detailed analysis of volumetric allows realize something surprising contrast between the side you could say The Day side of the volumes aimed at road and telluric mysterious character of volumes directed to the woods.” Regarding the internal organization { fig. 6 }, the building features the typical organization of the time and paradigmatic work of José Luiz Monteiro. The occupation is differentiated by floors. The ground floor is intended for access, seating area and receptions. Aimed at the reception, a large central hall hosts and organizes all the social floor. A peripheral course welcomes sequen-

{ fig. 6 }

tially reception room and meals, and the service, hidden, occupies the ground floor. The Living Rooms and Dining open into large bays on the terrace, complement the living area, allowing access to the exterior and the garden. The first floor, connected by staircase apparatus and even a curious lift manual traction without a doubt one of the first lifts domestic Portugal (whose project has left the atelier of Gustave Eiffel) welcomes the private floor where we find the magnificent chapel and rooms, some lavishly decorated, some with decorative programs more discreet. These stands out the room “ensuite”, or the owner’s apartment at the time an innovation typology consisting of sleeping area, bathroom and dressing room. Here we can enjoy through a panoramic window wide views to the sea. This window of influence English, bay-window (panoramic window), is an attitude that will integrate the grammar of homes, being subsequently introduced in the grammar of Portuguese house of Raul Lino, that explores formal.

chalet biester – the chalet

Above and below this floor have core service in semi-basement and the living quarters of the employee in the attic, served by service staircase connecting all floors itself, and also highlight an impressive attic under the roof with a steep timbers that enhances the sturdy wooden structure, testimony of know-how from other times. The descent of the main staircase to the basement is half-presupposes a noble use of at least part of this ground, perhaps a refreshment room for the warmer months. The use of large windows, light and running water, along with the functional innovations plant large central atrium, or the introduction of the Model Room “en-suite”, make this home a model and evolution at the time of its construction. Today the result of the work of conservation and adaptation that was subject, it presents itself as a modern home with all the amenities of the present age. José Luíz Monteiro chose some of the best artists to work and decorate the interior of his work, thereby enhancing the quality of the set: the renowned Italian painter and stage designer Luigi Manini, who worked on the construction of the Palace Hotel Buçaco and as a set designer’s Royal Theatre São Carlos in Lisbon, Rafael Bordallo Pinheiro (tiles), Paul Baudry (fresh), and the master decorator at the height of his career Leandro Braga (sculpture and furniture). The latter has coordinated the work of decoration framing the decorative painting Manini.

If there were doubts about the relevance of this name, simply referring to the

artist carver Leandro Sousa Braga (1839-1897) gained notoriety and recognition in the works that developed into the Great Room of the House of Peers, the current parliament, having developed numerous works for the royal family, creating pieces for the Ajuda Palace and the Palace of Belém (official residence of the President of Portugal), and Luigi Manini (1848-1936), Italian painter and set designer, later also an architect, occupied since 1879 the position of a set designer at Theater São Carlos, being a personal friend of the King D. Ferdinand II, was responsible for the extraordinary works of the Palace Hotel Buçaco, and the Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra, the latter at the request of Augusto Carvalho Monteiro. Luigi Manini uses inside the Chalet Biester fresh medieval inspiration combined with flamboyant Gothic, and the style typical of the time, which blends out the multicolored stained glass windows commissioned in France, which give a colorful classic inside, illuminating also the furniture created by Leandro Braga. Manini clothed with the ample fresh delicate, whose theme is a mixture of flamboyant gothic and new trends that aroused at the time. Thus, we find medieval-themed paintings, but of accomplishment, Art Nouveau and in all divisions, over a uni-

chalet biester – the chalet

form background (beige lobby, gray halls, green and blue in the chapel), are reproduced - with aid of a stencil, a technique known as “Stencil” - multiple and varied motifs: flowers, branches, various geometrical designs and various figures. In this context, the beautiful neo-gothic staircase is quite the example of aesthetic blend that has already been noted: the side walls, two figures, a young woman dressed in white mousselina and a brave knight, come face to face, theatrically, on the wall front, one sees the accomplice greedy. These figures are framed by a profuse branches containing certain neo-classical elements. The best and most original bibliographic source we can find, is the article “The Biester House” written by José de Figueiredo, published on pages 13-16 of the number 4 of the journal A Architectura Portugueza, 1908: “In detail, the entire building is a treat. Outwardly, the segmental arch which frames the double door entrance arch that lifts a covered balcony, is on the whole a delightful motif that [Jose Luis] Monteiro says both its value builder and artist . Of great simplicity, marrying wonderfully with the remaining facade that reason is the central and main columns that in him enter without leave to represent their structural function, support, are a grace and lightness incomparable, and the way Monteiro gave maximum color without excessive volumes, this facade detail, is also an affirmation, and good, their value. Internally, if Monteiro had the collaboration of Manini and Leandro Braga that, especially in the dining room, showed how great was their value and technical artist, guess its direction is everywhere, yet even num or n ‘another point where the fantasy Leandro Braga, feeling more at ease, expanded so dramatically and also freer. D’designer a value that, even today, is remembered as such by his fellow atelier Pascal Monteiro, without impairing vision Leandro Braga who was the first to observe, detailed to the last, whenever deemed necessary, any detail where Braga Monteiro intervened and be understood within its purview. In the rest, Braga, obeying the general plan, just did what his conscience dictated to him as an artist. Thus, the work of both, are sometimes melts, melts always conscious effort by virtue of both, so carrying no damage to one or the other but before giving them more luster and glory.

chalet biester – the chalet

The park, as we have said, is the work of Nogré, is a marvel. Polixenes as the “Conto d’Inverno” Shakespeare, who said “art helps nature is superior because it is art, so to speak, still nature,” Mr. Nogré did your garden Biester in style landscape, limiting itself whenever it was possible to finish the work initiated by nature, and without forgetting that the house had to frame the garden. On this guidance, drew him all the streets and alleys in order to enforce, on all sides and the best possible, the overall silhouette of the building. Now looming picturesque in massive, sometimes curling naturally without other coverage beyond that gives the grass neatly trimmed, the park is valued so with the same principle of sobriety that characterizes, in the alternation of bare spaces and decorated, the Romanesque . And running in all directions along the three sides of the house later, it sometimes almost disappears under the weight of their tufts, others appear unobscured, and still others appear framed and trimmed the foliage, this gives, for this so continually, whom looks outside, as an ever new and original. Notes: In the house Biester, collaborated the following persons: Costa Master, by taking charge of his nephew carpenters Carlos da Costa Soares, both of Cintra. The latter, when he was prevented by illness, replaced him as master of the works until the end, showing its great competence. The plasters are Domingos António da Silva Meira, the wood carving Leandro Braga and decorative painting of Luigi Manini, except the Herald is seen at the entrance which is Baeta also distinguished painter. Trim the large wrought iron fireplace dining room is by Jose da Quinta, Locksmith artist of great value.”

chalet biester – the chalet

The Garden The lush vegetation of the Serra de Sintra is far from being a vestige of the primeval forest. In fact, owing to changes over time, such as farms, forestry and land use for pasture, saw found itself in the nineteenth century, almost devoid of vegetation. It was with the arrival of the Sintra Romanticism that the situation is reversed. { fig. 7 }

{ fig. 7 }

Particularly notable Parks Pena and Monserrate, warrants planting, respectively, by King Ferdinand II and the wealthy English industrialist Francis Cook. These parks were introduced hundreds of species from various parts of the world, in part, are grouped by plots according to family or gender, or geographic origin, reconstructing landscapes and environments of distant countries, in perfect harmony and integration with environment and native vegetation, creating the illusion of being part of their nature. These historic parks, some areas were valued with the construction of tanks, fountains, ponds and discrete local leisure to the romantic taste and especially with landscaping achieved with the use of species of great ornamental value as tree ferns, rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias creating environments of great beauty and exoticism. In addition to European plants, the parks are particularly rich in species from other continents zones with a climate similar to ours, such as those originating in the western and eastern coasts of North America, temperate regions of South America, the China and Japan, South Africa, southern Australia and New Zealand.

chalet biester â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the garden

It is in this context that the Park Chalet Biester, inseparable part of the building itself, simultaneously setting and framing. It is impossible to imagine without this Chalet your garden, here the domain of the forces of nature over man manifests as the essence and spirit of the romantic garden. Its author, Nogré, took advantage of the extraordinary natural conditions and scenic possibilities offered by an extensive park that falls cascading until the Chalet Village. Here we see a classic example of the romantic garden of the century. XIX, where nature manifests itself in an imposing manner, with numerous exotic species originating from various corners of the world, small lakes and trees that tell us stories of other times. We know little of F. Nogret (1846 -). He writes about Francisco Marques de Sousa Viterbo, in 1907, in the article “The gardening in Portugal”, included in the publication of the University of Coimbra “The Office: Scientifica and Literary Magazine”: In 1887 he took charge, and on behalf of the family Chamiço Biester, the creation of the park on Fifth in Old Cintra, whose palace, shaped chalet, built by architect José Luiz Monteiro, is one of the most remarkable specimens of the lovely architectonics stay. Mr. Nogré continues to serve the same house, making parks and gardens surround the Sanitarium Santa Anna, in Wall, due to the liberality and philanthropy a kind lady, now deceased, D. Amelia Biester. From this very same source we know him to have been born in 1846, in France, department des Côtes-du-Nord (Flanders), ending 18 years special studies in the school of Grand Jouan. In 1878 he came to Portugal by the hand of Viscount Condeixa for your property in Sernache where he remained until 1885, when he sailed to Lisbon “in order to found a settlement here.” In 1887, according to Sousa Viterbo, he devoted himself exclusively to Chalet Biester.

chalet biester – the garden

The Architect: José Luiz Monteiro The fact that it was the first Portuguese to obtain a graduate degree in architecture outside the country, earned him the consideration and orders of the wealthier classes of the kingdom. There were many requests and among their most important works include the Rossio station { fig. 8 }, the Hotel Avenida Palace, the building for the headquarters of the former Bank Lisbon and the

{ fig. 8 }

Azores and the Palace of the Conde de Castro Guimarães. Born of a tumultuous season of contrasts and transitions between Portugal ancient and modern, between a parent and backward rural industrialization and advances the work of José Luiz Monteiro, in the absence of a personal architectural language and develop their own style, is you recognized as guiding principle the adoption of strict principles regarding the method of valuation of the project and will be certain aspects of the overall design, such as a functional organization, the hierarchy of spaces, lighting and own deployment. One of the principles that repeatedly emphasizes the design of its buildings, and the Chalet Biester a paradigmatic example of this, is the rigor and the optimization of the layout of plants as design and architecture as central hub of the entire development of the project. To this purpose the teaching of Fine Arts in Paris, based on what has been dubbed the “philosophy of plant” certainly contributed to this trend by José Luiz Monteiro. Himself stresses the importance it assumed in the design of the plant building, which was intended to serve as a “ key to its perfect functionality” and simultaneously as “generating its full artistic effect.”

chalet biester – the architect

This interrelationship of functional and artistic, based on the purity of the design remains constant in projects José Luiz Monteiro, varying formal approaches this same design, the different types of programs to solve the frameworks or the wishes of the commissioner. Following this philosophy and this working method, results another feature of his work that materializes in the placement and articulation of volumes resulting from strokes plants. Particularly in relation to domestic architecture, and more particularly in the chalet, the volumes of the various components constructions allow to find a formal orientation determinant and a specific characterization in their relative positioning. These aspects relate to the search for a correct hierarchy of interior spaces. The taste for expression through detail and detail is also evident in some of its projects, revealing deep domain and a vast knowledge of building systems used. In the composition of the elevations and treatment of facades, Monteiro often adopts a series of constructive components, in which the types and scale of openings, swing and shot the covers on the plans façade treatment of cornices, or the appropriate selection of building materials, stand out, giving a personality and a look all of their own work. In the article “The new buildings of Lisbon” written in 1905, José Luiz Monteiro exposes the multiple reasons that concern the class of professional architects in the face of poor architectural quality of the buildings that were emerging: the scarce number of qualified professionals, the voracity of the masters works, the general ignorance of the owners and the supposed wisdom of the rich client, “ intelligent, traveled, which has seen much out there”, were then, as now, the main obstacles to producing a culturally airy architecture that promotes the advancement and qualitative society. “It is common hear that the modern buildings of Lisbon are not architectural nor taste, nor the least are simply uncharacteristic, what would be a good, but much worse than that, are living documents and palpable ignorance of all classes of our population in matters of art and taste. all this is, unfortunately, very true with rare exceptions, our bad. (...)” The Chalet Biester, as we have seen is one of these exceptions.

chalet biester – the architect

Curiosities... The film “Ninth Gate” The Chalet Biester was also the scene of some of the film The Ninth Gate by Roman Polanski, whose main protagonist actor Johnny Depp in the role of Dean Corso { fig. 9 }, a bit greedy expert in rare books , and at the behest of a millionaire (Boris Balkan) will have to find three copies of the Nine Gates to the Kingdom of Shadows, 1666, supposedly written by Satan himself and a Venetian named author Aristide Torchia (possibly in-

{ fig. 9 }

spired by the life of Giordano Bruno). In Sintra, Dean Corso visits the house of Victor Fargas, who holds a copy of The Nine Gates to the Kingdom of Shadows, and lives with a style of aristocratic decadence in the Chalet Biester, selling what is left of his extensive collection of books to buy food and pay taxes. The film is an adaptation of the book The Club Dumas (1993) by Arturo Pérez-Reverte.

chalet biester – curiosities

“Sintra is the only place in the country where histo ry has become a garden. Because all its legends converge there and speak their own monuments of the past less than an eternal present of greenery. And the memory of what was even in tragedy fades in air or greens in an ivy of an ancient wall “. Louvar Amar, Vergílio Ferreira (1916-1996)

§ Bibliography AAVV (2004), História de Portugal: Dicionário de Personalidades, vol. XVII, Vila do Conde: Quidnovi; Cordeiro, Ferreira Fátima (1990), José Luiz Monteiro na arquitectura da transição do século: monografia, Lisboa: AAP-SRS; DIAS, Pedro (1986), Marcos da Arte Portuguesa, Lisboa: Pub. Alfa; RIBEIRO, Ana Isabel de Melo (2002), Arquitectos portugueses: 90 anos de vida associativa, 18631953, Porto: FAUP; RIBEIRO, José Cardim (1998), Sintra Património da Humanidade, Sintra: Câmara Municipal; STOOP, Anne de (1985), Quintas e Palácios nos arredores de Lisboa, Lisboa: Ed. Civilização; VITERBO, Sousa (1907), A jardinagem em Portugal. Coimbra: O Instituto; VITERBO, Sousa (1988), Dicionário Histórico e Documental dos Arquitectos, Engenheiros e Construtores Portugueses, 2.ª ed., Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional.

chalet biester

photographs: FG + SG, Fernando Guerra (except figs. 1 to 9) ÂŠ images and texts: from the authors Sintra, 2013