“to create something that lasts,
the first thing is to want to create something that lasts forever.”

Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann

Originally conceived as a private residence, the Serralves House and surrounding park resulted from a project commissioned by the second Count of Vizela, Carlos Alberto Cabral (1895-1968) for the grounds of what had been the family's summer farm near Porto. Designed and built between 1925 and 1944, the House is considered the most remarkable example of an Art Deco building in Portugal, and was classified as a Public Interest Building in 1996. In 2012 the entire built and natural heritage of the Serralves Foundation was granted National Monument status.

The authorship of the House can be attributed, with some care, to the French architect Charles Siclis (1889-1944), whose contribution proved decisive in the overall design of the project, and to José Marques da Silva (author of the projects for the São Bento Station and the São João National Theatre, both in Porto) who developed, altered and executed it. Carlos Alberto Cabral, Jacques Émile Ruhlmann (1879-1933), and later Alfred Porteneuve (1896-1949), his nephew and architect by profession, also intervened in the project.

In 1987, the Portuguese State acquired the property from Delfim Ferreira's heirs with the intention of installing a museum of modern art there. The House was opened to the public that same year, as a venue for exhibitions of modern and contemporary art until the opening, in 1999, of the new Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, designed by architect Álvaro Siza Vieira. In 2004, Siza supervised the restoration of the House and its interiors. Providing spaces for exhibitions and artists' projects integrated in the program of the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Serralves House constitutes, by its architecture and design, a museum in its own right.

The architectural design of the villa can, with some caution, be attributed to the French architect Charles Siclis, and to José Marques da Silva, a famous architect from Porto at the time, who was closely associated with the work throughout. In addition, the architects and decorators of the Ruhlmann house were also responsible for the interior design.

The longest façade of the house runs along Rua de Serralves, facing the garden. The interior, where the lioz stone dominates, is composed of three floors. On the first floor are the kitchen, pantry and service areas; on the first floor, the living and dining rooms and atriums; and on the second floor, the private area. Above the main entrance we find a glass canopy in articulation with the door and a semicircular widening of the park wall. The other entrance reveals a patio nestled between the volumes of the building and allows an articulation and distribution of space along the major axis of the house.

The villa, constructed between 1925 and 1944, is a rare example in Portugal of Streamline Modern domestic architecture, but with interiors reflecting neo-classical, romantic and art deco elements.

The Villa is on three floors – ground floor including all the living rooms, dining room, hall and library; private quarters on the first floor; and the basement contained the kitchen, pantry and service areas. Entering the Villa through the main entrance, one is struck by Ruhlmann’s elegant new-classical lines in the impressive two-storey central hall with René Lalique’s large skylight, beyond a view to the central parterre and grounds, to the right the large salon with a view to the lateral parterre, to the left the dining room overlooking the garden, and Edgar Brandt’s fine wrought iron gate which separates the social zone from the Villa’s private quarters and library.

Marques da Silva coordinated the project and took responsibility for the completed work, Charles Siclis may have sketched the image of the façades, Jacques Emile Ruhlmann may have suggested the scale and the nature of the main rooms in the house, Alfred Porteneuve may have detailed the design, Jacques Gréber may have defined the form of the gardens, but the decisive character that brought everything together was Carlos Alberto Cabral, the client of Marques da Silva. Cabral had the vision, the taste, the desire and the necessary resources to conceive his house.