Colonial-style Building, wood structure

Santo António, Príncipe Island, São Tomé e Príncipe

Housing

There are several residential-type buildings, commonly known as colonial, with 19th century construction and typological characteristics: a rectangular-plan, central body in stone or wood with the covered verandas resting on pillars all round the house. Many of these houses are to be found in the centre and the west of Santo António. In this group it can be referred a work of great elegance and entirely restored in 2001. This single-storey building features façades covered verandas in wood resting on very slender pillars; the chalet-type cover is trimmed with ogees in indented wood. The guardrails of the verandas and the surrounding wall of the construction are made of concrete painted in white, indented with the motif of the Cross of Christ.

• José Manuel Fernandes