Visiting Serralves Villa

The Foundation’s current collection of furniture only includes a small part of the Villa’s original furniture, given that many of these items were sold at auctions and thus dispersed, prior to acquisition of the property by the Portuguese State.

The main exceptions are: the dining-room furniture (repurchased by the Foundation) and the interior architecture equipment (doors, embedded cupboards, doorknobs, bathroom furniture, etc.). During the restoration process of the Villa, overseen by the architect Álvaro Siza, the latter items were preserved with great care.

Part of the Villa’s furniture was acquired from leading interior decorators of the period. Several items were brought from the Count’s residence in Biarritz. He also added antiques, which he inherited from the family, thus creating an overall eclectic style.

Ruhlmann and Leleu design several items of furniture and Silva Bruhns designed the carpets. Edgar Brandt designed a wrought iron gate of the hall and several wall lamps. Jean Perzel designed the lamps. Other refined aspects of the Villa’s interior decoration include the blue limestone and exotic hardwood floors; the marble-lined bathrooms, with stone-carved bathtubs; the geometric patterns of the plasterwork; and the curved form of the library staircase.