Photo: Chancery, 2008
2008 was the 25th anniversary of the embassy's opening. I spent several months obtaining advanced clearances, and traveled back to Lisbon with my family. We toured the site and buildings with the site manager and had lunch in the Manor House. It was a great experience.
As we arrived by taxi, it was obvious that our precious gatehouse had been demolished and replaced by a large, boxy security building. There was also a large new commissary building on the south side of the old buildings where the stable had been, and a major new entry drive on the south side of the site. New parking and recreation areas had been added, but consistent with the original site and landscape plans.
The area around the embassy was much more developed and urban. A new high-rise building had replaced the Quinta estate on the west side of the site, and the adjacent highways had expanded up against the outside walls. At the time of design, there was concern about listening devices in distant buildings monitoring windows in the Chancery, but this problem had apparently been solved given the close proximity of new buildings.
Although the project was no longer in a semi-rural setting, in most important respects the site, landscape, and buildings were still intact and generally in original condition.
The building had weathered well and looked essentially as it did in 1983, with a few minor exterior changes. The window grilles on lower floors had been removed and the operable wood windows replaced with fixed, steel, explosion-resistant windows, and "modern" transparent guardrails had been installed on some balconies - work by unknown designers.
The interior had also remained essentially as designed. The Danish pendent lights had been removed from some offices, and some of the original exposed concrete structural elements had been painted to match plaster walls. Normal people don’t share architects’ love of concrete as a finish material.
