How to Restore a Goan-Portuguese villa
- Rohini Gomez Braganza
- May 12, 2020
- 8:30 am
- No Comments
ARTICLE CONTENTS
PROJECT SPECIFICATIONS
Type: Residential, Restoration
Location: Goa
Plot size: 10,225 sq ft
Built Area: 3770 sq ft
Year of Restoration: 2014
Property owners: Giles & Vinita
Many ancient Goan-Portuguese homes are being torn down, substituting them with unsightly modern construction. There are many reasons for giving up these ancient gems, but the most common disappointing factor is ‘maintenance’. Pampered with the facilities of a millennial age, owners today prefer to let go, than waste their precious time with the tales of yore.
Suddenly a tale of ‘today’ emerges that is truly worth telling. A story that could give our generation some hope and understanding. Let me introduce you to two incredible individuals and their journey to restoring an ancestral Goan-Portuguese property, in less than 1 year!
Peacefully tucked away in North Goa away from the hustle and bustle of the city is one particularly quaint Goan-Portugese heritage home, in the heart of tranquil village. Originally built in 1901, the villa will shock you with its contrasting pop of postbox-red painted walls amidst a picturesque evergreen forest.
Introducing #567 Moira, home to two military retirees, Giles and Vinita. Lets delve into their process of renovating a village gem.
the first site visit
Treasure the pre-existing building and understand its value
The house uninhabited for over half a century, was in quite a dilapidated state. When the couple first stepped into the property, they had to hack their way to the house by chopping wild vegetation. It had caved in roofs; chipped off plaster from the tall walls; loose clay floor tiles came off dung-soiled encrusted floors; there were damaged mother of pearl windows; tenacious creepers navigated the floor of the entire property. The gigantic wooden doors creaked eerily; the smell of bats and mould was overpowering; and moss encrusted walls completed the dreary picture. In short everything was dark, damp and dingy.There were few worn out antique artefacts strewn everywhere for e.g furniture, blackened copper pots, grinding stones etc.
A relation now in her early 90’s who was born in house #567, reminisces how beautifully adorned the house used to be in her childhood years. There were enormous chandeliers that hung from the ceiling, an intricately carved teak altar hung from the wall for their prayers and a lot more carved teak furniture. Sadly an abandoned property like this, turned itself into a temptation ground for burglars.
Although there was little left behind the couple had greater visions for the property.
PLANNING AND STRUCTURAL WORKS
The restoration process needs to be systematic from the start
Chalk down a to-do list from the highest priority task to the lowest. As you plan this out, simultaneously shortlist potential contractors and vendors to execute their respective task. The first element that you must address is the structural building and your last element could be fittings and fixtures. This list will also tell you what elements need special restoration attention, which will go up on your priority list as the process of restoration commences.
Address the layout of your property
You might need to add or subtract spaces in the equation by adding or eliminating walls based on your requirements.
The couple added more rooms into the house as the original room sizes were extremely large. From the original layout that had 3 bedrooms and 1 outhouse pig-toilet; they were able to add 4 spacious bathroom cum toilets ,1 guest washroom and 3 spacious dressing rooms attached to each bedroom respectively.
Does your roof need structural attention?
The roofs of old Goan-Portuguese houses need a bit of attention since their materials are not as robust as concrete slabs. These sloping terracotta-tiled roofs are few and rare to see today. Respecting the original built form, it is best to restore the old roof with fresh materials.
In this case the roof was the first element revived before any form of work took its course. Giles and Vinita were sure they wanted the overall built form to be left untouched. Since parts of the wooden beams had caved in, they were replaced for robust steel structural members. This was done to also protect the roof from white ant infestation which is a prevailing issue experienced with vernacular homes in tropical geographies. Fresh terracotta tiles were laid on the roof with hints of glass tiles placed randomly for natural light to stream in.
FINISHES
Address your wall plaster finish
Understand if you want to incur any future plaster repair works as the pre-existing plaster may not be long lasting.
The original 2-inches thick plaster that dressed the 90cm thick laterite walls were removed and replaced with modern wall plaster. This was done because artisans who worked this ancient plaster composition of lime, mortar and egg shells, were far and few. The couple could not foresee themselves struggling in future repair works in the midst of their retirement years.
Create a mood board for your spatial finishes
It is paramount to decide the overall look you want to achieve. This will automatically narrow down your item selection process whilst making purchases.
At Villa #567, the couple took charge of the design process as they knew the final finish layout and palette they wanted to achieve. Restoring the property however needed technical expertise to transform it functionally into a modern home, retaining its pre-existing built form. A civil engineer was consulted for this transformation, with an aesthetic direction provided by the couple themselves.
Flooring
Antique floor tiles have a charm about them that is quite unlike the mass manufactured tiles available today.
At #567, a lot of effort was taken to gently clean the pre-existing blackened clay floor tiles. Years of dust that had accumulated was first removed, the tiles were reset back in place with modern day flooring mortar and finally polished. Unfortunately the original tiles of many spaces in the house were destroyed over time. Replacing them are a carefully chosen palette of vitrified and ceramic tiles that do not deviate away completely from the quaint theme. This subtle blend of the old and new certainly showcases a heightened level of prowess in the couple’s artistic sense.
Fenestration
Goan vernacular architecture is most famously known for their mother-of-pearl windows. A great amount of attention needs to be given to revive this vernacular element. Since they are rare to find today, accentuate their presence by framing them like paintings on a wall.
Most of the destroyed vernacular windows of the house were restored by old carpenters from the village itself. Today their frames and shutters sport a bold black colour with rows of traditional mother-of-pearl panes. A painted ochre border around each of these openings completes the overall look. This pop of colour gives these openings an edgy finish.
Spaces
Recognize key pre-existing elements of a space that are really eye catching. Celebrate those elements by complimenting them subtly, to enhance their prominence.
GRAND HALL
The grand hall which is notably the largest room in the house, has five vernacular doors all along its periphery. Being the most beautiful feature of the room, these 14ft-high doors with 4 shutters each, have tall mother-of-pearl panes and stained glass in tones of red, blue and yellow. Today these doors sport rustic exposed laterite arches along their header. Furthermore, they are complemented beautifully with a splash of ochre on their inner walls.
BED & BATH
The three bedrooms of #567 adorn a minimalist palette of white-washed walls and terracotta red tiles. The Master bedroom connects to two master bathrooms via a spacious dressing room. Giles and Vinita took the liberty of making a separate ‘his’ and ‘her’ bath-cum-toilet, respecting each of their individual tastes of bath fittings, textures and colour palettes. The bathrooms adjoining the other two bedrooms sport a more neutral look with matte-finished ceramic flooring and clean white dado.
DINING HALL
The dining room has a lower roof height and is illuminated well with large mother-of-pearl windows and glass skylights. Brightening up the space further is a white vitrified tile flooring; and bright ochre tile skirting and niches. It connects itself to the kitchen and a semi-open central courtyard.
KITCHEN
The kitchen is adorned in a bright colour palette of white and ochre similar to the dining room. Most elements of the space adorn a white palette such as the vitrified tile flooring, walls and laminate finished cabinets. This is then complemented well with splashes of ochre tile skirting and dado, making it quite a peppy space to cook up hot meals. The sudden boldness of the black granite countertops gives the space a unique definition.
COURTYARD
The courtyard which is at the heart of the property was given a landfill to raise it to the level of the main house. It now serves as a spillover extension from the kitchen and dining areas. Finished with broken tile mosaic flooring and tasteful bamboo landscaping along its periphery, the courtyard is truly a private oasis to escape into.
Make use of available archives
The couple made use of photo archives to restore many elements to the original house design. For example, most of the facade porch iron-railing had rusted and crumbled to pieces. To revive the design, they referred to an old black and white photo where the men and women dressed in vintage attire positioned themselves at the villa facade. Clearly behind them can be seen the beautifully intricate railing that once stood. The clear black silhouette of the railing was clear enough for it to be fabricated to its original glory.
DECOR
The décor is truly the finishing touch to a design project and gives definition to a space.
Decor Elements
ANTIQUE FURNITURE
Antique furniture of the house comprises most of the interior decor. They were restored and finished in a deep mahogany tone with striking bottle green marble countertops, cardinal purple/rust upholstery for the chairs. The bedrooms sport teak antique furniture in the form of chic sideboards, chest of drawers, desks, old style four poster beds and bedside tables. Most of the antique furniture belong to the ancestral property itself, while the rest were acquired from dump stores from all over India whilst on work assignments.
FEATURE WALLS
Feature walls are painted in bright white/ochre to showcase an array of memorabilia, ancestral photographs, porcelain platters from travels around the world and oil paintings done by Giles himself.
Many interesting upcycled-artefacts done by Giles himself, artfully adorn corners and niches of the house. These include wine jars with wickerwork used for lampshades; upholstered ejection-seats of fighter aircrafts; cured and varnished coffee tree and tea bush used as the base for tables; a large upcycled green acid bottle makes a tasteful light feature in the grand hallway that never goes unnoticed for its enormity.
LIGHTING
Old Goan houses need a lot of light, so maximize on the possibilities respecting the overall look. It is the element that is going to show off the design statement of each room and the hard work that has gone into each space.
At #567, all the beautiful colours of the house truly come alive in the day with ample sunshine streaming through the glass roof tiles. On a daily basis the window and door shutters of house are flung open, illuminating the property with ample daylight, and eradicating the need for any artificial sources. This exercise also enables the villa to ‘breathe’ or be well ventilated, as heritage houses of this design require this to be best preserved.
By night, the spaces are lit up with warm mood lighting. This makes the large house not only feel warm and cosy but really compliments the quaintness of the ancestral cottage, as if it were illuminated by candlelight.
IT IS TIME TO SHOWCASE YOUR MASTERPIECE!
Restoring an ancient villa can be a daunting task with all the challenges that pop up along the way. The experience however is extremely enriching and inspiring.
Looking at the Goan-Portuguese villa today, a visitor is welcomed with an array of bold colours, organic shapes and textures that give a sense of vintage richness. House #567 is a canvas, so artistically manifested, it showcases the couple in their truest selves.
The house from its original state to what it is today was finished in a record time of 7 months, which is unheard of in the case of most restoration projects. The couple reminisce all the challenges that they encountered as the project took shape. Plans and execution did not synchronize and constant alterations had to be made. But something quite unusual remained their driving force through the entire period. Every morning when they returned to site, they were welcomed by the most unlikely visitor patiently awaiting their arrival by the gigantic entrance doors of the house. The most beautiful barn owl they’d ever seen. The couple called the owl the ‘spirit’ of the house. They were assured their ancestor was there and present with them every step of the way through this journey. When Giles and Vinita finally moved into their ancestral home in 2015, the owl vanished and was never seen ever again. They took it as an auspicious sign, that the owl was indeed the spirit, protecting their destiny
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Project drawings, specifications & Photography provided by the Property Owners
Analysis & Article written by Architect Rohini Gomez Braganza