The demolition of Solar do Engenho, in Porto da Cruz, was today the target of a “vehement protest”, by Emanuel Gaspar, from the JPP.
Raising the possibility of a hotel unit being built on the site, the researcher says that the location is risky and that “it should not be allowed to build under the unstable cliff, from where rocks are always falling”.
“If they wanted to build the hotel, they could simultaneously preserve and restore the manor house, integrating it into the project, as there are good examples in Madeira”, he considers, giving the example of the Quinta Jardins do Lago hotel and the Quinta da Casa Branca hotel, in Quinta da Bela Vista.
Emanuel Gaspar accuses official entities of “lack of control” in the preservation and identity of heritage sites, in this case a manor house dating back to the 18th century.
“The demolition of the manor house was bad news that I received, with great sadness, this morning”, says the historian, recalling that the property was “still in a relatively good state of conservation and structurally stable, and constituted the only association between a sugar mill and a manor house so characteristic of Madeiran sugar cane architecture”.
He adds that it was “a remarkable manor house with its stonework, stone arches, tiles, ship-spotting tower, Madeiran pavement and centuries-old trees”.
“It was inexorably demolished! A sad loss for our identity, memory and architectural heritage,” he laments.