House of the Arts

The House of the Arts is a project of Eduardo Souto de Moura and started in 1981. It earned the architect a Secil Award. The building designed by the Portuguese winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize includes a movie theater, an auditorium and an exhibition space, and is part of an architectural grouping serving various functions. The House of the Arts, the Allen House and its gardens, currently run by the Regional Directorate of Culture of the North, were together classified in May 2012 as Monument of Public Interest. The Allen House is a design by Marques da Silva and was built at the end of the 1920s by the third Viscount of Villar d'Allen for his residence. It was an era during which Porto was witnessing the emergence of a number of palaces, which imprinted an aristocratic look to the city. Since December 2013 the Cineclube of Porto runs a regular cinema program in the House of the Arts.