This point sits inside Casa de Santa Maria, a historic house museum on the Portuguese Riviera in Cascais.
Last reviewed 4 October 2026 · A three-minute read · 2870 BC–2004
The short answer
Casa de Santa Maria in Cascais began in 1902 as a wedding gift from Jorge O'Neil to his daughter, built by architect Raul Lino using only Portuguese materials in a Moorish-influenced style. Later owned by the Espírito Santo banking family, it was bought by the Municipality of Cascais in 2004 and opened as a museum in 2007.
Santa Maria House and Lighthouse in Cascais, Portugal — 2008 · Johann Dréo from Chartres, France · CC BY-SA 2.0
1902
Jorge O'Neil had Raul Lino build a Portuguese-only house
Casa de Santa Maria is now a historic house museum, set near the sea in Cascais. Its rooms still carry blue and yellow tiles, horseshoe arches, and a painted ceiling from past owners. The house began in 1902, built for Jorge O'Neil, a wealthy aristocrat with business ties across Portugal. He had already built the Condes de Castro Guimarães Museum nearby. Soon after, he commissioned this smaller house as a wedding present for his daughter.
Jorge O'Neil hired Raul Lino, a young architect who got his start designing houses for friends in Cascais. For this house, O'Neil gave Raul Lino an unusual rule, telling him to ignore the fashionable European styles of the day. Instead, Raul Lino could use only materials found inside Portugal.
The result leaned heavily on Moorish design, the building style that shaped many of Portugal's grandest old buildings. Inside, horseshoe arches link the main rooms, a direct nod to that influence. The house took its name, Santa Maria, from the nearby cove and chapel grounds where O'Neil had already built his first house.
By the time it was finished, Casa de Santa Maria stood as one of the earliest examples of what became known as Raul Lino's Portuguese house style. Raul Lino would spend his career developing that style further, and this house was where it first took shape by the sea.
1917
The architect's brother filled the house with Portuguese tiles
Around 1917, the house passed to José Lino Júnior, an engineer and the older brother of the architect who designed it. José Lino Júnior was a serious collector of Portuguese art, and he set about filling the house with pieces he loved.
José Lino Júnior bought a set of 17th-century tiles from an old chapel in Frielas, a small village outside Lisbon. Along with the tiles came a wooden ceiling painted in oil, a work credited to António de Oliveira Bernardes, and José Lino Júnior had the ceiling adapted to fit the dining room. José Lino Júnior also expanded the house itself, adding new sections at each end. Raul Lino designed that expansion too, keeping the additions in step with the original house.
1934
Bankers hosted kings and a duke who gave up his throne
In 1934, the house changed hands again, bought by the Espírito Santo family, one of Portugal's most powerful banking families. Under their ownership, Casa de Santa Maria became a stop for European nobility and visiting heads of state.
Guests included Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, and King Umberto II of Italy, the last king to rule before Italy became a republic. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor also came through, the former King Edward VIII of Britain and the American woman he gave up his throne to marry. Former US President Richard Nixon visited as well. A family member added two stone sphinxes to guard the doorway.
2004
Cascais bought the house and opened it as a museum
In October 2004, the Municipality of Cascais bought Casa de Santa Maria from the Espírito Santo family. The deal brought a private home of nearly a century into public hands for the first time since Jorge O'Neil built it. The town spent the following years restoring the house, and it reopened to the public in 2007 as a museum.
Visitors today walk through rooms with no furniture, since the house was emptied before the sale. What remains are the walls themselves. The ground floor still carries the blue and yellow tiles José Lino Júnior brought from Marvila Convent in Lisbon. Upstairs, a small chapel holds tiled scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary, made in Talavera, Spain, in the late 1500s. Floral patterns painted on the chapel ceiling are Raul Lino's own work. Next to the chapel, the Great Hall keeps its painted ceiling and tiled walls intact. Down in the basement, visitors find modernist tiles from around 1920, also designed by Raul Lino, a sign of how far his style traveled from the Moorish arches he began with here in 1902.
Casa de Santa Maria stands open to the public as a museum, its tiled rooms and painted ceilings kept much as past owners left them.
Sourced records, high and medium confidence. Era background is marked as such.
Prehistoric
2870-2475 BC
Radiocarbon-dated human remains from a site about a kilometer away have been dated to between 2870 and 2475 BC, among the oldest traces of people in this ground.
The Catholic parish of Nossa Senhora da Assunção e Ressurreição de Cristo, just up the street, has kept its own register of this ground's people since 1572.
The great earthquake of 1 November 1755 sent tsunami waves into Cascais that wrecked boats and stripped the seafloor bare, killing much of the town's population.
Raul Lino was told to ignore fashionable European styles and build using only materials found in Portugal, producing horseshoe arches and Moorish-influenced rooms.
Around 1914-1917 the house passed to engineer José Lino Júnior, Raul Lino's older brother, who collected 17th-century tiles and an oil-painted ceiling attributed to António de Oliveira Bernardes for it.
From 1934 the Espírito Santo banking family owned the house, hosting guests including King Umberto II of Italy, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and later Richard Nixon.
What was here before Casa de Santa Maria became a museum?
Casa de Santa Maria was a private house from 1902, built as a wedding gift for Jorge O'Neil's daughter, before the Municipality of Cascais bought it from the Espírito Santo family in October 2004 and opened it to the public in 2007.
Who built Casa de Santa Maria?
Architect Raul Lino built the house in 1902 for Jorge O'Neil, who commissioned it as a wedding present for his daughter and instructed Lino to use only materials found within Portugal.
Who lived in Casa de Santa Maria?
After Jorge O'Neil, the house passed around 1917 to José Lino Júnior, the architect's brother and an art collector, and from 1934 it belonged to the Espírito Santo banking family.
What famous guests visited Casa de Santa Maria?
Guests under the Espírito Santo family included King Umberto II of Italy, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, and former US President Richard Nixon.
What can be seen inside Casa de Santa Maria today?
Visitors can see 17th-century tiles from Frielas and Marvila Convent, a painted ceiling attributed to António de Oliveira Bernardes, a chapel with late-1500s Talavera tiles, and modernist tiles designed by Raul Lino in the basement.
