Quinta de Villar D'Allen

The Villar d'Allen Manor is one of the few surviving leisure manors that surrounded the city of Porto in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It has belonged to the Allen family since 1839, when John Allen, who was an English businessman, bought it in a public auction. It includes the House of Villar d'Allen, a building of eclectic and typical architecture of nineteenth-century romanticism, and interesting gardens, which bring together different influences of landscape architecture and where the old formalism coexists with paths that appear randomly traced. In the gardens, it is worth looking for the sculptures and architectural ornaments by Nicolau Nasoni, as well as a magnificent fountain from the former convent of Monchique. The Allen family provides guided tours to the House and Gardens, and organizes events in the Manor. Camellias and other ornamental plants are on exhibit and available for sale. The group composed of the House and the Manor was classified as Building of Public Interest in 2010.