Early dwellings
Original title: Habitações primitivas
Describes the first dwellings built on Madeira after its discovery, made of local timber such as cedar, and records traditions about the first two-storey house and the first stone house in Funchal.
The first wooden houses and the first stone house
Since forest species abounded on this island at the time of its discovery, they supplied the main raw material for building the first dwellings. The earliest dwelling houses were all built of wood taken from that dense woodland, and it may be presumed that many of them used the native cedar and other species best suited to the purpose.
João Gonçalves Zarco had his first home on the heights of Santa Catarina (‘St Catherine’), built perhaps of the rich, fragrant cedars that grew in thick forests everywhere. It must without doubt have been a more than modest and uncomfortable dwelling, of a single storey and devoid of all architectural display. Also of wood was the small chapel of St Catherine, which the discoverer’s wife had built beside their home.
Only some years later was the first two-storey house built, and an old manuscript gives the following interesting information on the subject: ‘In this Campo do Duque (see vol. 1, p. 22) was built the first two-storey house in this town of Funchal and in the whole island, and João Manuel had it made of dressed cedar wood. This two-storey house was held at that time to be so novel and wondrous a thing, all the other houses being single-storey and of planking, that articles of complaint (capítulos) were brought before the King against the said João Manuel, charging him with building a tower, where it seemed he meant to fortify himself and rise up against Funchal and against the Crown.
The said house still stands today (mid-18th century) and is owned by António de Carvalhal, and it is the lowest two-storey house in Funchal.’
As we see in various places, tradition records that the first stone house built on this island was the one João Gonçalves Zarco raised as his residence beside the chapel of St Paul (see Moradias de Zargo). It is also said that one of the oldest buildings of this kind was the one intended as a hospital, likewise built near the same chapel of St Paul.
In this article
Place
Places mentioned · 06- Early dwellings · Subject
Funchal
This entry describes the first dwellings built on Madeira after its discovery, made of local timber such as cedar. It also records traditions about the first two-storey house and the first stone house in Funchal.
- Campo do Duque
Funchal. Site of the first two-storey house in Funchal.
The Campo do Duque was a large open ground at the centre of early Funchal belonging to the grand masters of the Order of Christ. It was granted for the building of the Sé (from 1485), the town hall and the square with its pillory, and the Terreiro da Sé was part of it. It is recorded as the site where sugar cane was first planted and where the first two-storey cedar house in Funchal was built.
- Chapel of St Catherine
Funchal. Small wooden chapel built by Zargo's wife beside their first home.
The Capela de Santa Catarina in Funchal was founded about 1425 by Constança Rodrigues de Almeida, wife of João Gonçalves Zarco, beside his first wooden house. It is regarded as the first church on Madeira, with the date 1425 on its portal, and had an adjoining almshouse for poor women. The Convento de São Francisco was built opposite it.
- Chapel of St Paul
Funchal. Chapel near which Zargo reputedly built the first stone house and an early hospital stood.
A chapel in Funchal built by Zargo near his stone house, from which the parish of São Pedro originated and which was its first seat. The first hospital was built beside it, about 1469. It gives its name to the square, lane and locality of São Paulo.
- Funchal
Town where the first two-storey and stone houses were built.
The capital of the archipelago and seat of the principal captaincy, where settlement began; it was made a vila c.1451–52. Its bay, the widest in the archipelago, lies between Ponta do Garajau and Ponta da Cruz and offers sheltered anchorage, though its harbour had never been studied oceanographically. The Elucidário discusses it as a health resort with climate data and records the January 1906 disturbances, the Danish prince's visit in May 1846 and recent volcanic cones in the area.
- Santa Catarina
Funchal. Height where Zargo had his first wooden dwelling.
Santa Catarina is a height in São Pedro parish, west of Funchal, where Zarco made his first settlement and wooden dwelling. Its fields were named with Caniçal as the best royal hunting grounds, and the Hospital de São Lázaro stood there.
People
People mentioned · 03- António do Carvalhald. 1598
Owner in the mid-18th century of João Manuel's two-storey house, still standing then according to an old manuscript.
- João Gonçalves Zarcod. 1467
Discoverer and first captain-donatary of Funchal, whose first wooden home stood on the height of Santa Catarina and whose later home was reputedly the first stone house.
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Early Funchal resident who built the first two-storey house on the island, of dressed cedar, and was accused before the king of building a tower to rebel.