Nursing Home

This was the name formerly given to the small house at the Entrada da Cidade (‘entrance to the city’) where the Port Captaincy and the Commercial Association were housed for many years. When the house was built is unknown, but it is known that on 15 June 1771 the Council contributed 100,000 réis (old Portuguese money of account; 1$000 = 1,000 réis, 1:000$000 = one conto = 1,000,000 réis) towards building a new house next to the health house, as the residence of the standard-bearer, and that on 13 July of the same year it gave a further 100,000 réis for the same work.

In former times it was the custom for the chief health guards to wait at the nursing home (Casa da Saúde) for the papers of ships arriving in our port to be presented to them. The chief health guards were appointed by the Council and, unlike today, were not required to have medical training. Besides the chief health guards, the nursing home had an interpreter, also appointed by the Council, who received a salary of 17 réis a year.

The nursing home served as the town hall (Paços do Concelho) from 1784 until the end of the 18th century or the beginning of the 19th. Although it was a municipal building, it was ceded by the government to the Council, which sold it in 1914; it was bought at auction by the firms Luiz da Rocha Machado & C.º and W. Winton for the sum of 22,800,000 réis.