A Rua de Santa Catarina e as suas Arquitecturas

Abstract

The story is a reflection of the present, namely, while we are documenting the past we are also including in this analysis the current thoughts and views on the topic. We have two stories in one. Two single stories. For me, to make a small summary of the architectural history of this street, was motivator not only by personal connections to the street but also for the opportunity to study the creation and composition of one of the most important streets of Oporto. Studying architecture goes far beyond examine plants, cutts and elevations. In most cases these graphics are a simple result of trends, tastes, possibilities and functionalities. Even the part that we call "artistic" is conditioned by external factors of the architecture art of making. Street where Kings Portuguese and foreign passed and stayed in his Great Hotel; Street where were poets born and married; Street where thinkers were involved in gatherings on his famous Coffee Masgestic; Street where several publications, regional and national, and magazines are published; Street where it was filmed the first Portuguese film; Street where various Associations and Institutions of society have settled; Street where schools have act until today; Street where lived Barons and Viscounts; Street where politicians overnight; Street that no politician can't ignore on his campaign; Pioneering Bookstore Street; Shopping Street with intense trade. This is the Santa Catarina Street of the past and present. I noticed that many of the actual "struggles" in which the current architecture and urban planning are imerged, had been already overcomed in the past, either by virtue of institutional power either by progressive initiative. We must understand a plan and its social context to know the resulting architectural form. Alexandre Herculano said in 1856 that "The fate of this land, which gave its name to the country, seems to give the first impulse to all the great, liberal, sincere and truly progressive." Of the progressive project of Almadas in a first glance remains little, but the core of the building great plan of the street guiding lines were completed until dead lines. Of the first buildings designed for the street few had been built, of the ones that were built are already modified by the need for adjustments along the times. Of the street ground floor little remains from the past. The transfiguration that showcase require does not allow, in most cases, to keep the original configuration. The street, at night, transfigures once more, and gain another life through the ads and advertising placars as well through the storefronts, that together almost neutralize the rich diversity profile of the street, creating another profile, the night one. Nowadays in the discipline of urbanism we talk about a phenomenon that were the lost of the limits of urban in the city, but we can see the city of Oporto, this notion of limit stated and linear - through city walls - had been lost long time ago. At that time there was a plan to control the situation. We must take into account that the absolute power of the system then allowed no such mistake margin.