The discreet hotel on Avenida da Liberdade

It was the great architect Joaquim Norte Júnior who designed the building that, more or less in the middle of Avenida da Liberdade, on the side that goes up from Restauradores to Marquês de Pombal, would house the now completely forgotten Hotel Lis, a sober and elegant construction adjacent to the Tivoli Cinema, and in the first version it only had a ground floor and first floor.

Completed in 1926, the building initially housed the curiously named Boa Pensão, which the following year would change its name to Pensão Tivoli, certainly because of the neighboring and prestigious concert hall. That same year, 1927, the building was awarded the Valmor Prize. This award would cause problems for the owner, who, when he wanted to add two more floors, again with a project by Joaquim Norte Júnior, saw the Lisbon City Council veto his intention. The problem was eventually resolved and, in 1932, the residents of Avenida da Liberdade saw the building “grow”, and the Pensão Tivoli that was located there was transformed into Pensão Lis, now with more space, more rooms and a more refined service. .

Five years later, in 1937, Pensão Lis was renamed Hotel Lis, with a fleur de lis as its symbol, as discreet as the building itself. A year earlier, the Hotel Vitória, designed by Cassiano Branco, had been opened a little further down the same sidewalk, and on the other side of the avenue, since 1930, the first Tivoli Hotel had been built. Lis had a “sister” hotel, Miraparque, with the same management, on Avenida Sidónio Pais, and it closed at the end of the 70s, due to the post-25th of April upheavals, which also affected the hotel industry. It was demolished in the 90s, leaving only the facade standing, today forming part of the structure of the luxurious Tivoli Forum and being used for offices. Anyone who passes by today would not imagine that the most discreet hotel on Avenida da Liberdade was located there.