The project for the construction of the Municipal Council current building, integrated in the plan of expansion of the city's civic center elaborated by the english Arquitect Barry Parker, was approved in Council Meeting on February 1st 1916. This plan gave the city its current configuration, connecting Praça da Liberdade and Praça General Humberto Delgado.

The City Hall building, projected by Arquitect Correia da Silva, starts construction in 1920. However, after several interruptions and changes to the initial project, introduced by Arquitect Carlos Ramos, the construction is resumed only in 1947, and concluded 8 years later. Finally, in 1957, council services are placed in the building.

Building Architecture

The Municipal Council building has six floors, a basement and two internal patios. In order to reach the central tower's top, 70 meters high and with a built-in clock, it is necessary to climb 180 steps.

Basically built from marble and granite, the building's interior has a few nobly decorated rooms where the most solemn ceremonies take place, along with Municipal Assemblies and Executive Meetings. A list of these rooms follows:

Forecourt or Passos Perdidos on the ground floor

Located in the building's ground floor, and decorated by ceiling paintings in romantic style, where the Porto Municipal Council's blazon stands out, as well as Nossa Senhora da Vandoma, the city's guardian Saint. In the access to the main stairway there are two marble statues, sculpted by Henrique Moreira, called "Industry" and "Art", represented by feminine figures. The first one is represented by a woman with a scarf on her shoulder and a teethed wheel; the second is represented by another woman with a naked back and her head slightly raised.
Is this forecourt three more works of art can be admired: "O Marítimo", "A Peixeira" and "A Ceifeira" by the sculptor Maria Alice Costa Pereira.

Main stairway

The access to the noble halls is done through an ample stairway in black marble, where a bust of Francisco de Almada e Mendonça, a duplicate of the original by Soares dos Reis that is kept at Prado do Repouso cemetery. Atop the stairway, and filling the four corners of the room, one can admire paintings by Dórdio Gomes, where the artist has approached the following themes:

The Romantic Porto, evoking the writer Camilo Castelo Branco at Praça da Liberdade;

The Commercial Expansion, evoking Afonso Martins, the "Alho", a bourgeois from Porto elected to negotiate with Eduardo III, in London, in the year 1353, the first commercial treaty ever known;

The Geographic Expansion, dedicated to the "Descobrimentos" (a time in Portuguese history of immense geographic and commercial growth), with the figure of Prince D. Henrique.

The Origins represented by the figure of D. Afonso Henriques, the first King of Portugal.

Noble Hall

It is in this room that the official reception and homage ceremonies of individuals are conducted. Here a table centrepiece stands out, the main piece of a golden bronze table set from the second half of the XIX century, constituted by 43 pieces, acquired by the Autarchy from the heirs of António Bernardo Ferreira, owner of the "Ferreirinha" wine company.

Amongst other sculptures and paintings, two marble figures decorate the hall, the "Honra" (Honour) and the "Concórdia" (Concordance), by Gustavo Bastos.
Amongst other sculptures and paintings, two marble figures decorate the hall, the "Honra" (Honour) and the "Concórdia" (Concordance), by Gustavo Bastos.

D. Maria II Hall

In this richly decorated hall, where a real size oil painting of D.Maria stands out, one can admire interesting art pieces. In the majestic hall there are a clock and two amphoras in rose porcelain by Sévres from the XIX century, two Italian chests of drawers from the XVIII century with ivory incrustations, two Japanese vases from the XIX century, a giant table in mahogany, whose only support is a central foot ending in lion claws, two consoles chest and mirror and two crystal lusters from Venice.

Session Hall

This room, where the Executive and Municipal Assemblies are conducted, is decorated with three huge tapestries by Guilherme Camarinha. The biggest of the three, called “Hino em Louvor, Honra e Glória da Cidade do Porto”, evoks the most important events in the city's history, including the Porto’s Siege. The other two, smaller, are called "Faina do Douro" and "S.João", evoking, respectively, the city's tie to Porto Wine commerce and the city's most characteristic festivity.