Blue Palace

The Blue Palace is the integral rehabilitation of a Pombaline building in Praça da Alegria, in the heart of Lisbon, converted into a 5-star boutique hotel with 35 rooms, a restaurant, a bar, and a spa. The project was designed by Contacto Atlântico, a leading architecture firm in Lisbon founded in 1996 and named Atelier of the Year at the 2025 Prémios Construir.

The intervention combines the rigorous restoration of original heritage elements, including stonework, friezes, and ornamental ceilings, with the technical infrastructure required by a contemporary high-end hotel.

What is the Blue Palace project?

Blue Palace is a luxury hotel housed in a historic building at numbers 8-11 of Praça da Alegria, in the Santo António parish of Lisbon. The building has 679 m² of footprint and 4,174.45 m² of gross construction area distributed across seven floors, four above ground and three below.

The hotel’s main entrance is on Praça da Alegria, while the restaurant and bar have independent access from Rua da Conceição da Glória at the rear, taking advantage of the natural two-storey level difference between the two streets.

Blue Palace sits on Praça da Alegria, a small, tree-lined square just steps from Avenida da Liberdade, Lisbon’s most prestigious avenue. The location is strategic for luxury hospitality: it links the historic centre to Marquês de Pombal and is surrounded by international fashion houses, jewellery brands, and reference restaurants.

It is also one of the city’s main tourism hubs, with easy access to São Jorge Castle, Bairro Alto, and Chiado. This concentration of demand supports the project’s ultra-luxury positioning and the decision to invest in heritage rehabilitation rather than new construction.

The rehabilitation of this Pombaline building was guided by three principles: preserving the urban reading of the façades, recovering original decorative elements, and adapting the interior to the technical demands of a contemporary 5-star hotel.

Façades and stonework

The project does not alter the façade design. The perimeter exterior walls, existing stone work, corner stones, pilasters, friezes, plinths, and mouldings are kept and restored where required. The balcony balustrades are repaired and repainted in their existing colour. All exterior window frames are replaced with timber frames, executed according to the detail previously approved by the relevant heritage authorities.

Ornamental ceilings and interior elements

The ornamental ceilings are reproduced using silicone moulds taken from the original ornaments and adapted to the new spaces. The ceiling at the ground-floor entrance is replicated identically to the original. The work is executed with traditional materials and techniques to ensure a faithful reproduction, retaining the highest possible number of original decorative elements. The existing arches, stone steps, and remaining stone elements of the main entrance hall are likewise reinstated.

Roof and fifth elevation

The roof geometry is lightly adjusted with the addition of two pitches, and the area of metal grille on the roof is enlarged to ensure ventilation of the technical equipment. The solution was designed so that the visual impact of the fifth elevation closely matches the texture of the original red clay tiles, neutralising its presence when viewed from Lisbon’s belvederes.

What is the hotel’s floor-by-floor programme?

Blue Palace is organised across seven floors, articulating accommodation, dining, and wellness functions.

• Floor 0 (entrance from Praça da Alegria): lobby with reception, bar, and dining room. It also includes guest rooms, one of which is adapted for people with reduced mobility, along with accessible support facilities for reception and bar.
• Floors 1, 2, and 3: hotel guest rooms, with reconfigured bathrooms to accommodate the new technical risers dimensioned in coordination with the engineering disciplines.
• Floor -1 (entrance from Rua da Conceição da Glória): restaurant and its kitchen, with a service lift connecting to the floors above and below.
• Floor -2: indoor swimming pool, gym, spa with changing rooms and treatment rooms, a second bar, an electrical substation with direct exterior access, kitchen support, staff areas, lockers, and laundry.
• Floor -3: locker rooms and technical equipment area.
• Attic technical floor: dedicated technical equipment areas, smoke vents, and chimneys sized to meet the performance standards of a 5-star hotel.

Heritage approvals that support the project

The intervention maintains every condition set by the previously approved architectural process, including the notifications issued by the Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage and the information provided by the Advisory Structure of Lisbon City Council. The coordination of the architectural and engineering projects, following a formal change of responsible technician, led to this revised project.

This layer of heritage approvals reinforces the project’s rigour and is particularly relevant for luxury hospitality investors looking for an architecture firm with proven experience in sensitive licensing processes in Lisbon’s historic core.