Blue Palace
Blue Palace is a boutique hotel project located on Praça da Alegria, adjacent to Avenida da Liberdade in Lisbon. The project occupies a historic building known since the early nineteenth century as the Palácio Azul, whose construction is associated with the late eighteenth century. The intervention rehabilitates the building while preserving its original architectural character, adapting it to a contemporary hospitality programme of 35 rooms, a signature restaurant and a set of communal spaces designed in dialogue with the existing fabric.
The intervention preserves the original façade and its articulated stone detailing, restores the interior arches and reconstructs the original ceilings, establishing a coherent relationship between the building's heritage elements and the requirements of contemporary hospitality.
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João Pinto da Silva
João Pinto da Silva
The 35 rooms are arranged within the existing spatial structure, maintaining the proportions and scale of the historic building. The restaurant and communal spaces are positioned in relation to the principal architectural features, creating a hospitality environment that reflects the building's character rather than displacing it. The interiors address the scale and proportion of the late eighteenth-century building, working within the existing envelope to produce a hospitality experience that reflects the building's history and its position within the urban fabric of this part of Lisbon.
Palácio Azul — Before the Avenue
The building that will house Blue Palace was on Praça da Alegria before the avenue existed. When the Avenida da Liberdade was inaugurated in 1886, the building had already been a presence on this square for the better part of a century.
Its construction is associated with the end of the eighteenth century. A painting by Nicolas-Louis-Albert Delerive, executed between 1809 and 1818, shows the Feira da Ladra on the square with the palace clearly visible, its façade already painted blue. The building has been known as the Palácio Azul since at least the beginning of the nineteenth century.
Over the following two centuries, the building served different purposes: residential and military. For most of the twentieth century, it served as the 4th Police Station of the PSP, a function it held until 2009. Anselmo Braamcamp Freire, historian, genealogist and first president of the Portuguese Senate, was born here in 1849. Blue Palace is the next chapter in that history.
A Palace, a police station. Now a hotel.
Lisboa, Portugal
Blue Palace is located on Praça da Alegria, directly adjacent to Avenida da Liberdade. The hotel occupies a position at the centre of Lisbon's principal hospitality, cultural and commercial axis, within walking distance of Chiado, Príncipe Real, the Parque Eduardo VII and the historic centre. Avenida da Liberdade has been the city's primary address for hotels, institutional buildings and flagship retail since the late nineteenth century.
Blue Palace occupies a position that Lisbon's hotel geography has recognised for over a century, within a building that was part of the city's history before the avenue was built.
