House No.5

Doorway No. 5

Here is the entrance to a larger house in Viseu, Portugal, than the one posted a couple of days ago. (I'm going through my old photographs of our trips, to pick out interesting ones which may tell a story, or else fire the imagination well enough to suggest a story.)

The house is in an older residential section of Viseu, and was probably built in the nineteenth century for an affluent merchant. At any rate, it was obviously constructed in the days before the advent of electricity, as evident from the bands of outside wiring strung above the door.

The house itself is sturdily built, stone being the chief material of its construction, and it does not appear to be in any dire need of major maintenance, at least not yet. The paint on the walls has begun to fade and peel, and the balcony and its supports could probably do with a good scrubbing, as can the intricately-designed and curved wrought iron railing on the balcony. But these are minor matters that do not need immediate attention, though a small investment in time or money would do wonders for the appearance of this façade.

The doorframe and the small balcony base are of dressed stone, as is the pilaster on the left. The stylized fleur-de-lys carving over the door would suggest that this house originally belonged to someone of the merchant class, rather than a member of the minor aristocracy, who would as likely as not have required the builder to place an armorial crest there. There are several little touches of the stonemason's art in the doorframe, such as the shapely curved headpiece and wings, and the small projections on either side. The painted numeral 5, in white on blue, required by the municipal authorities to make the postman's job easier, does detract a little from the elegance of the doorway.

The carved wooden door itself, although showing the effects of weathering, is stout and elegant, most noticeably in the middle where the two sides meet perfectly, even down to the machine-turned decorative baluster between the rectangular panels at the base. The inset key-hole is understated, and does not detract from the artistic integrity of the door, nor do the two little brass downward pointing hands that form double knockers above it.
The ovoid carvings, set within the magisterial I-shaped panels, offer attractive focal points to balance the twin knockers.

The brass mail slot is partially agape from the mail that has recently been stuffed there by a hurried postman, with the red corner of a piece of advertising material peeping out just enough to give the picture a tiny fillip of bright color.

As for the balcony above, its use, as always in architectural details of this type, is (like lip gloss) more decorative than functional, for one is unlikely ever to see an occupant there, unless it was to witness, for example, a Holy Week procession. The white-painted double door of the balcony, however, is interesting, in that it provides an impression of wide-eyed innocence behind the lacy veil of the balcony railing.
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