Vapor
Describes the 'Vapor', a curious red wooden building spanning the Santa Luzia stream in Funchal, built in 1837 as a café and bathhouse and demolished around 1898.
Almost opposite the old Rua das Dificuldades there once stood a most curious wooden building, known as the Vapor (‘steam’), whose ends rested on the two banks of the Ribeira de Santa Luzia (‘St Lucy’). It had a single storey and was painted red. It was originally intended as a café and bathhouse, and in its last years served as a residence for a few poor families. It was built in 1837 and demolished, we believe, in 1898, because it had fallen into serious disrepair. Many of the foreigners who spent the winter here could often be seen sketching or painting the extravagant structure that stood over the Ribeira de Santa Luzia.
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Funchal
The 'Vapor' was a curious red wooden building spanning the Santa Luzia stream in Funchal. It was built in 1837 as a café and bathhouse and was demolished around 1898.
- Ribeira de Santa Luzia
Funchal. Stream whose two banks supported the building.
The Ribeira de Santa Luzia is one of the three streams crossing Funchal, named after a chapel of Santa Luzia on its left bank. Its banks were probably the first land irrigated by levadas and had four sugar mills in the late 17th century. It feeds the Santa Luzia, Moinhos and D. Isabel levadas, and the Jesuits' Fundoa residence stood on its right bank.
- Rua das Dificuldades
Funchal. Former street opposite which the building stood.
Former street opposite which the building stood.