Rua de Santa Catarina and Café Majestic

The marble cladding on Rua de Santa Catarina leads into a hall where mirrored walls reflect the light of wall sconces, while plaster faces and flowers remain beneath the ceiling. In the nineteen twenties, Porto merchants rented premises here for a café with a beer hall: well-to-do city residents came along this street to shop and stroll. Under the name Café Majestic, writers, artists, and teachers from the Porto School of Fine Arts gathered at these tables; talk of books, paintings, and city affairs was part of the establishment's ordinary rhythm.

In the early nineteen eighties, torn sofas stood behind the marble façade, and the plasterwork ceiling had darkened from tobacco smoke. The café was running at a loss, and the premises were to be turned into a bank branch. There were hardly any buyers for the worn-out hall.

Agostinho Ferreira Barrias learned of the possible closure. He was a restaurateur who made his living from cafés and already owned several establishments in Porto. For him, it was a purchase in his own field, but one with poor prospects: its long history was not making money, and restoration required major investment. Barrias considered replacing a historic café with a bank a loss for the city, and in nineteen eighty-three he bought Café Majestic.

There was something here worth preserving. In December nineteen twenty-one, a group of Porto merchants registered the Café Elite company and leased the ground floor of a building on Rua de Santa Catarina for a café and beer hall. They chose this street for its public: well-to-do city residents came here to shop and stroll. When the establishment opened in December of the following year, the name Café Majestic was already on the façade. It was meant to evoke Parisian social life. Inside, visitors found a setting suited to that name: wall-to-wall mirrors, metal light fixtures, and plaster faces and flowers beneath the ceiling. Writers, artists, and teachers from the Porto School of Fine Arts met at the tables; discussion of books, paintings, and city affairs was part of the café's ordinary purpose.

By the nineteen sixties, visitor numbers had fallen, and the decoration had not been maintained for years. In nineteen eighty-three, the building was designated an object of public interest, but protective status alone was not enough to bring the café back. Barrias kept it open and prepared a full restoration. Only in nineteen ninety-two did he close the hall for the work.

The restorers preserved the mirrors, metal sconces, and plasterwork from the nineteen twenties. The upholstered furniture had to be soaked for about a month to remove the accumulated nicotine; the floor was replaced, and the other objects were restored and returned to their places. In July nineteen ninety-four, Barrias reopened the café. The loss-making purchase became the leading establishment of his family company and entered international itineraries around Porto.

A banking hall never appeared at this address. Coffee is still served under the Café Majestic sign, and above the tables remain the mirrors, sconces, and plaster figures that the Barrias family bought along with the failing establishment and then restored.