Casa das Três Girafas

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View of the Casa das Três Girafas in Avenida Armando Tivane. The eponymous chimneys are covered by vegetation
One of the chimneys can be seen from the side

The Casa das Três Girafas , in English "House of the Three Giraffes", also named Casa Dr. Luz de Sousa is a residential building in the Polana district of the Mozambican capital Maputo . It is located on Avenida Armando Tivane . The Portuguese architect Pancho Guedes created the house, which is distinctive thanks to its large three chimneys, according to a source around 1965, although this is questionable.

After Pancho Guedes moved back to the Portuguese colony of Mozambique in the early 1950s , he initially mainly created commissioned works for the colonial elite of the capital Lourenço Marques. These include Edifício Prometheus (1951–1953), Bloco Habitacional O Leão que Ri (1954–1955), Casa Avião (1951), Padaria Saipal (1954) and the “House of the Three Giraffes” ( Casa das Três Girafas ). The construction of the residence was commissioned by Dr. Luz de Sousa, about whom nothing is known. The works from his early creative period are characterized by particularly striking or even extravagant architectural details - this work was one of them. Because of this, the year of construction 1965 mentioned in the sources is rather unlikely and is more likely to be dated to the mid-1950s.

The residence designed by Guedes consists of two buildings, one smaller and one larger. Both have in common the pointed roofs made of concrete , which are unusual for the Mozambican flat roof architecture . In three places - on the northern side, between the two roofs and on the southern side - there is a large, distinctive chimney. Especially the middle chimney with its flat cover resembles an animal's mouth, probably that of a giraffe. The three long, large chimneys also gave the plant its name. The house is said to have changed color several times since it was built; at the moment, like at the beginning, it is white.

In the Portuguese monument database Sistema de Informação para o Património Arquitectónico , the work has the number 33748.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c housesofmaputo: Stiloguedes - XX - Casa das Três Girafas (Dr. Luz de Sousa) de 1965. In: housesofmaputo.blogspot.de. April 27, 2015. Retrieved November 16, 2015 (Portuguese).
  2. ↑ Ana Tostoes: Modernidade Africana. É preciso vir ao fim do mundo para descobrir as coisas mais actuais e extraordinárias . In: OFF . No. 17 , p. 4–10 , doi : 10.4206 / aus.2015.n17-02 ( uach.cl [accessed on November 16, 2015]).
  3. ↑ Tiago Lourenço: Casa das Três Girafas / Casa Dr. Luz de Sousa. Sistema de Informação para o Património Arquitectónico (SIPA), 2012, accessed on November 16, 2015 (Portuguese).

Coordinates: 25 ° 58 ′ 5.7 ″  S , 32 ° 35 ′ 47.3 ″  E