Palmeira (quinta)
Original title: Palmeira (Quinta da)
A fine Funchal estate owned by the industrialist Henrique Hinton, notable for preserving in its garden the window from the house where Christopher Columbus is said to have lived.
The well-known Quinta da Palmeira (‘palm-tree estate’), one of the most beautiful and sumptuous residences in Funchal, has access to the Estrada da Levada de Santa Luzia (‘St Lucy levada road’) and the Caminho da Torrinha (‘little tower road’). Its owner, the benevolent industrialist Henrique Hinton, lives there. When we dealt at some length with Christopher Columbus’s stay in Madeira (I-286 ff.), we referred to the house he lived in on Rua do Esmeraldo and to the celebrated window that belonged to that building. Today it has been placed, with artistry and devotion, in the garden of the Quinta Palmeira, where its present owner preserves it with the greatest veneration and esteem.
In this article
Place
Places mentioned · 05- Quinta da Palmeira · Subject
Funchal. Subject of the entry.
Fine estate near Funchal, on the Levada de Santa Luzia road, owned by the industrialist Henrique Hinton and noted for its vegetation. In 1940 its garden preserved the window from the house where Christopher Columbus is said to have lived. It also served as an episcopal residence with a recently built chapel, and its owner gave visiting aviators a lunch there; a dragon tree at its entrance was uprooted.
- Caminho da Torrinha
Funchal. Road giving access to the quinta.
Road in Santa Luzia, Funchal, near the Santa Luzia chapel and giving access to the Quinta da Palmeira. An old wooden bridge used by pilgrims going to Monte met this path.
- Estrada da Levada de Santa Luzia
Funchal. Road giving access to the quinta.
The Estrada da Levada de Santa Luzia is a level road in Santa Luzia, Funchal, running from near the Santa Luzia stream to the Avenida Pedro José de Ornelas beside the Santa Luzia levada, one of the oldest on the island. It formed part of the northern city limits in 1909 and 1927. It offers fine views and passes several quintas, including giving access to the Quinta da Palmeira.
- Funchal
City in which the quinta stands.
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.
- Rua do Esmeraldo
Funchal. Street of the house where Columbus lived, source of the window.
Rua do Esmeraldo is a street in central Funchal, running from Rua da Alfândega to Rua do Comércio, named after João Esmeraldo, who had large residences there. Columbus is said to have lived there, and it held the last rented town hall, taken in 1862.
People
People mentioned · 02-
The navigator Christopher Columbus, whose house in Rua do Esmeraldo supplied the window now kept at the quinta.
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Benefactor industrialist who owned and lived at the Quinta da Palmeira, where he kept the Columbus window.