Castanheiro (street)
Original title: Castanheiro (Rua do)
Funchal street named after a giant chestnut tree, widened in the 1840s at the initiative of civil governor José Silvestre Ribeiro using land from the former Jesuit college.
It links Largo do Colégio with Rua de São Pedro and Rua das Mercês.
Its name comes from a gigantic chestnut tree that stood in more remote times at the northern end of the street, which as recently as 70 years ago was a narrow, winding lane. It seems that it was at one time called João Castanheiro.
It was on the initiative and at the urging of the civil governor José Silvestre Ribeiro that the Municipal Council had it widened and given the alignment it keeps today. By decree of 10 January 1847 the central government authorised the ceding, from the convent grounds of the former Jesuit College (Colégio dos Jesuítas), which then as now served as barracks, of the land needed for the widening. Only after this improvement were the present entrance and main gate of the barracks built; previously they had been in Rua dos Ferreiros (‘blacksmiths’), roughly where the old lyceum (state secondary school) was once housed. In this street stands the characteristic house known as that of Dona Guiomar, now considerably altered, which once served as military quarters. It was also in a building in this street that the Hospice of Princess Dona Maria Amélia (Hospício da Princesa D. Maria Amélia) was provisionally installed in 1853.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 02Place
Places mentioned · 08- Rua do Castanheiro · Subject
Funchal. The street described in the entry.
Rua do Castanheiro is a Funchal street named after a giant chestnut tree and widened in the 1840s, at the initiative of civil governor José Silvestre Ribeiro, using land from the former Jesuit college. It contained the Casa de D. Guiomar, the military hospital's first site, and the provisional hospice that opened in 1853, and later housed the Clube Washington.
- Dona Guiomar’s house
Funchal. Characteristic house in the street, once a military barracks.
The Casa de D. Guiomar is a characteristic unfinished house in Rua do Castanheiro, Funchal. It was once a military barracks and the first home of the military hospital.
- Jesuit College
Funchal. Former Jesuit college, used as barracks, whose enclosure ceded land for the widening.
Former Jesuit college in Funchal, whose Aulas do Pátio housed secondary teaching and later the lyceum, and which also housed the Escola de Geometria e Trigonometria. It housed the diocesan seminary from 1788 to 1801, was disputed between bishop and governor as seminary or barracks, and was occupied by British troops in 1801. It later served as an infantry barracks, and its enclosure ceded land to widen the Rua do Castanheiro.
- Largo do Colégio
Funchal. Square connected by the street.
Largo do Colégio is the former name of the square in Funchal now called Praça do Município. The Rua do Castanheiro connects to it, the Rua da Igrejinha and Rua da Carreira each end there, and it bounds the sections of Rua dos Ferreiros formerly called Peru and Estudo.
- Princess Maria Amélia Hospice
Funchal. Hospice provisionally installed in a building in this street in 1853.
Funchal hospital for poor sufferers of pulmonary tuberculosis, founded by Empress D. Amélia in memory of her daughter, who died in Madeira in 1853. It was provisionally installed in Rua do Castanheiro in 1853, moved to a new building (1856–59) opened in 1862 with a founding inscription, and was run by the Sisters of Charity with an endowment from Queen Josefina of Sweden. Its chapel holds a statue of Our Lady of Sorrows given by Maximilian, and its gardens near Quinta Vigia hold many exotic woody species.
- Rua das Mercês
Funchal. Street joined by Rua do Castanheiro.
Rua das Mercês is a Funchal street named after the former Convent of Mercês, which stood on it and was demolished from 1911. It was the second site of the military hospital, is joined by Rua do Castanheiro, and once included the Rua dos Moinhos.
- Rua de São Pedro
Funchal. Street joined by Rua do Castanheiro.
Rua de São Pedro is a street in Funchal. It starts from the Rua dos Netos, is joined by the Rua do Castanheiro, and is one of the streets connected by the Rua das Mercês.
- Rua dos Ferreiros
Funchal. Where the barracks entrance stood before, near the old lyceum site.
Rua dos Ferreiros is an old Funchal street, already in existence in 1508, whose western half forms part of the boundary between the parishes of Sé and São Pedro. It gave access to the Aulas do Pátio, which housed the lyceum until 1914, and the newspaper Patriota Funchalense had its press and office at no. 7. The first suspected case of plague in 1905 occurred there.
People
People mentioned · 04-
Woman who gave her name to a characteristic house in the street, once a military barracks.
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Person whose name the street reportedly once bore.
- José Silvestre Ribeiro1807–1891
Civil governor of Funchal at whose initiative the street was widened and realigned.
- Princess Maria Améliad. 1853
Princess after whom the Hospício was named, provisionally housed in this street in 1853.