Neighborhood of Housing for the Poor Classes - 28 de Setembro - architects António Gomez Egea and Luís Guedes - 1946/49

The '28 de Setembro Neighborhood' appears through Decree-Law no. 34,486, which proposed
the construction of 5000 houses for poor families across the country. The homes were intended for the population who did not have access to 'Economic Houses', for the inhabitants of slums, such as the “Barraquinhas” neighborhood in Olhão, for those who would have been displaced by urbanization works or works of public interest, where they are located. those affected by the demolition of some houses in the center of Olhão, in compliance with the preliminary plan.

In the specific case of Olhão, it was intended for the entire population who lived in overcrowded or unhealthy housing, as happened on the 'islands' and other places already mentioned.

The project was handed over to architects António Gomez Egea and Luís Guedes, and was approved in 1946, the year construction of the neighborhood began. This consists of 300 single-story dwellings, 60 of type A and 240 of type B but, in the original concept, three types of dwellings were foreseen: type A, with two bedrooms, type B, with three bedrooms and type C, with four rooms.

The latter represented 10% of the dwellings – 30 dwellings –, not exceeding the paper format due to costs, (as it has two floors), having been replaced by type B houses. Another change to the initial project was the inclusion of 'Balloon” chimneys, at the request of the City Council, thus fulfilling the neighborhood's use of regional elements, which already included roof terraces with plaitbandas and other regional elements from the initial project, inspired by the work of Eugénio Correia.

The neighborhood was located to the northwest of the town, next to the Bairro de Casas Económicas
of the CPCP (1938). In the layout plan (fig. 74), we can see the existing housing in the 'Bairro Operário', as well as the layout of the new neighborhood in the shape of a diamond, defined by roads. The streets were tree-lined, so the free space between houses and available throughout the neighborhood was a great contrast to the town center, whose density was 180 inhabitants per hectare.

At the road intersection to the south, there was, in the proposal, an area destined for commerce with buildings occupying the limits of that area, opening a square for the neighborhood. The Santa Casa da Misericórdia building would later be built here.

Along the municipal road, which runs towards Estoi, collective housing buildings were planned, which were also never implemented. The only support equipment for the neighborhood that was built was the school building planned on the west side of the neighborhood, with the project adapted to regional characteristics by Inácio Peres Fernandes, once again at the request of the City Council.

The neighborhood was officially completed in February 1949 and only opened in 1951, probably due to waterproofing work, small repairs, whitewashing and painting carried out after 1949 and, also, due to the fact that in 1950, of the 300 homes, only 25 had piped water and access to the electricity network. Another 4 only had access to water and a further 45 only had electricity, that is, 226 homes still did not have access to any public network.