Café Majestic, Porto
Where muses, thinkers and artists can get together
The Majestic Café, designed by architect João Queiróz and inspired in the works of his master Marques da Silva, is still one of the most beautiful and meaningful examples of Art Nouveau in Porto. The building, implanted in the corner between Santa Catarina street and Passos Manuel street in 1916, included already a reference to establishments oriented towards the pedestrian street, as it is also mentioned in the reconstruction description.
The striking marble facade, ornamented with beautiful floral elements and winding shapes, is a good reflection of the decorative style of that time. The main facade boasts two elegant columns and three rectangular windows. Over these, a pediment crowns the composition with the Majestic's initials. On each side, two amused little-boy figures seem to invite people in.
Inside, Art Nouveau is all around in the rectangular-shaped room. The curved symmetry of the wooden frames and the decorative details attract the eyes of any keen observer. The walls are covered with large mirrors showing some aging signs, and holding a few lamps with elaborate metalwork; this creates a clever illusion that this space is larger than it actually is.
Plaster sculptures of human faces, naked figures and flowers confirm the wavy sensual style - two rows of leather seats, which replaced the original ones made of red velvet, create a cozy and elegant perspective of depth.
The winding contour of mirror frames, the lamplight, the marble details, and the smiling busts covering the walls up to the ceiling, give the café a golden and comfortable atmosphere that fosters relaxation and easy chatting. The Majestic breathes luxury, refinement and comfort.
The inside patio, built in 1925, is a retreat of delicate contours, with a staircase and a small balustrade, designed as a conservatory. Under the supervision of master Pedro Mendes da Silva, this corner of the café was a symbol of a new era for Majestic. A bar was built and connected to the café through a staircase, thus allowing the opening of another entrance in Passos Manuel street, "...where Port wine would be sold. This is the reason why a regional style Portuguese architecture was chosen, not only for the bar but also for the outside wall".
The new facade was designed and built in a different style from the international interiors of the café - this new space, without totally clashing with the previously existing one, presented a more rural style representing what Raul Lino would later call the casa portuguesa (traditional portuguese house).
That same year, the Majestic served the tastes of a varied clientele. Once again architect João Queiróz was called in to design a new modest, yet gracious shop window in the restored wall, overlooking Passos Manuel street used to sell tobacco and rappee. A year later, in 1926, this area was enlarged and leased to Tinoco & Irmãos Company and was transformed into a "small cabinet (...) selling tobacco".
In 1927, with new times and new ways ahead, the bar was expanded to "provide and serve beer in the existing terrace". This terrace area contains several moods. From the pure and architectural style of the entrance, reflecting the architect's Beaux Arts roots, we pass on to the decorative style garden crowning the architectural structures and ending up in a Ionian doorway, that makes the connection with the outside facade, including large, transparent and sensual spiral shells, in the typically modern style, which anticipate the feminine sculptures on the outside. The leafy and luminous conservatory is currently used in the summer for music concerts, playing the role of Majestic's third cultural space. It may be hard to choose between this and the grand piano area inside the café or the art exhibitions that take place in the ground floor, previously occupied by the pool tables.
In 1992, under the auspices of the Barrias family, the café closed down for a refurbishing project to be carried out under the supervision of architect Teresa Mano Mendes Pacheco.
In 1994, after the interior floors were replaced and the original furniture was restored, the Majestic reopened for business. Some photographs found by Fernando Barrias conveyed the original spirit of this place and allowed its luminous past to be sensitively reproduced in the present.
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