Gaspar Building - 'Portuguese Suave" apartment block - 1952

This building complex was one of the most important urban planning revolutions in Portimão in 1952. That year, industrialist Manuel Gaspar Patrocínio decided in Rua de Olivença to build the city's first apartment block, which is still known as 'Gaspar's Building'.

The building surprised the population of Porto by its large volume, with a front of more than 50 meters and three floors high, with five autonomous access doors, three at the front on Rua de Olivença and two on the side of the building, one at the Rua Mouzinho de Albuquerque and the other at the Travessa de Olivença.

It also introduced a new concept for organizing the buildings in the city, dividing the building into apartments, a novelty that was quickly repeated in the adjacent streets.

The 'Gaspar Building' still retains the original "Portuguese Suave" architecture, which still marks part of the center of Portimão.

It has all the typical features of this style, such as: the consoles on balconies and as decoration under the water mouldings, abstracted decorations above window openings, protruding frames of the windows and a "tower" on the corner as an urban marker.