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…
Source : theguardian.com
Read more…Mi casa es su casa: the family who turned their Lisbon home into a hotel
