Casa de Ferro
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The Casa de Ferro , in English "Eisenhaus" or "Iron House", is a building on Avenida Samora Machel in the Central district of the Mozambican capital Maputo . The all-sheet metal building, designed by Gustave Eiffel , was brought from Belgium to Portuguese East Africa (now Mozambique) in 1892 to serve as the seat of the then governor of the colony. However, the building never served this purpose.
history
In 1890 the Portuguese government commissioned the construction of a new residence for the governor of the Portuguese colony of Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique). For this purpose, in line with the fashion of the time, a three-story building made entirely of metal plates was built for the Societé Anonyme des Forges d'Aiseau in Belgium and shipped to Lourenço Marques (now Maputo). There it was built in 1892 on Avenida 5 de Outubro (now Avenida Josina Machel ). The metal structure, which is unsuitable for the tropical climate, and the resulting heat accumulating inside the building caused the then governor Rafael Jácome de Andrade to never use it as a residence. His successors did the same, so that it was temporarily empty.
First the court moved in here. However, the location was very inconvenient, as it was far from the center in the middle of a forest. To reach it, a swamp had to be crossed and there were insufficient roads. As a result, the court was relocated and the building was donated to Bishop Dom António Barroso, who opened the Instituto D. Amélia girls' school there in August 1895 . In 1910 the state withdrew the church from teaching and gave the house to the Sociedade 1.º de Janeiro , which established a public school there. Two years later the first Lourenço Marques grammar school was opened there, and was in operation until 1918. Then first the Office for Geodesy and then the Cadastral Office of the Province of Mozambique moved in. It was dismantled and preserved in the 1930s or 1960s (depending on the source).
In 1972, the colonial administration had the house in front of Parque Vasco da Gama (today Jardim Tunduru) on Avenida D. Luís (today Avenida Samora Machel) rebuilt, but where it was empty. It mainly served to complete the cityscape there with the neighboring park, the large Praça Mouzinho de Albuquerque with the town hall behind it and the Maputo Cathedral . It was later used by the Mozambican People's Liberation Forces.
After Mozambique gained independence, the state archive of monuments moved into the building. Today it houses the headquarters of the national monument administration. There are plans to set up an archeology museum there. The building was refurbished in 2014 with funds from the Vale mining company .
Since 2011 the building has been in the preselection for a list of monuments for the city of Maputo. The building is registered with the number 31681 in the Portuguese monument database Sistema de Informação para o Património Arquitectónico , which also includes monuments to former Portuguese colonies.
description
The building is three-story, has an irregular rectangular floor plan and has a gable roof. Access is via a small, metal external staircase that leads to the first floor, the railings of which with those of the balcony are among the only filigree decorations in the building.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Emblemática Casa de Ferro biografia.co.mz , October 17, 2018, accessed on October 24, 2019
- ↑ A verdadeira história da Casa de Ferro em Lourenço Marques delagoabayworld.wordpress.com , July 30, 2019, accessed on October 26, 2019
- ↑ a b c José Manuel Fernandes: Casa de Ferro. In: Patrimónia da Influência Portuguesa (HPIP). Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, January 14, 2013, accessed December 17, 2014 (Portuguese).
- ↑ Casa-de-ferro reabilitada. In: O País. May 29, 2014. Retrieved December 17, 2014 (Portuguese).
- ^ A b Tiago Lourenço: Casa de Ferro. In: Sistema de Informação para o Património Arquitectónico (SIPA). 2011, accessed December 17, 2014 (Portuguese, with photos).
Coordinates: 25 ° 58 ′ 13.9 ″ S , 32 ° 34 ′ 23.5 ″ E