Casa y Quinta de Villar d'Allen

Dona Isaura Allen, propietor of the "Quinta" accompanied us during our visit and explained to us with great affability the different varieties of plants giving their ages, origin, and other details especially when showing us the mother plant of C.J. "Villar d'Allen", the famous cultivation that gives its name to the "Quinta·

As we proceed to the Palace we examine many other varieties of known camellias such as C.J. "Contessa Lavinia Maggi", C.J. "Rainha das flores" and just before arriving upon them, we find to our left a great example of C.J. "Hagoromo" and immeduately in front of the entrance to the Palace , Dona Isaura Allen shows us a beautiful and leafy C.J. "Camurca", a beautiful camellia that was imported from China by Lady Amellia Hume in 1806.

The maturity of the garden is replicated by many varieties and species that live there, like the enormous example "Wisteria sinensis", whose trunk is able to hide a large person and scales the old overhanging pergola that projects perpendicularly from the front of the palace.

The designation of this "Quinta" unites two aristocratic portuguese family names, the Allen and the Gouveia, that also gives the name to two beautiful and unique camellias that we know as C. j. "Villar d'Allen" the precious mutation the "Mathotiana Rubra" and also found in Portugal the C. J. "Augusto de Gouveia Pinto.

In this leafy garden large "Rhododendrons" can be found in its spectacular blossoming.

Joao Francisco Allen, after purchasing these properties, started to plant a variety of species, increasing the selection that existed, such that Dona Isaura Allen showed us a trunk af a large camellia unfortunatelly gone, with a perimeter of two meters at its base, probably existing for two hundred years at its extinction.

Joao Francisco Allen, descendent of an english business family that was established in Portugal in 1718, was born in Viana do Castelo in 1781 and completed his studies at Georgetown College (Washington), where he studied design and military science. After adquiring the new property that is called "Villar d'Allen", a modernization of old house of Simoes was completed enlarging it and adding two towers.

The garden on the south side of the mansion was conserved just as it was created by the family Simoes, an italian garden with a round lake enclosed by "buxus" hedges and containing granite figures. On the north side on a terrace, a small and closed forested garden exists where besides an excellent selection of camellias are planted, there are other exotic species recently introduced in that period of time in Europe such as "araucarias" , "magnolias" , "pinus","cedrus", "sequoias" and "palms" .

Continuing the new trend in those years, to create scenic gardens, useful for this purpose were many books purchased in London and still exist in the library of this mansion. His son, Alfredo Allen, after studying various years in France, continued to decorate the scenary around the mansion being influenced by romanticism, he created a large lake fed by various streams that flowed through the densely wooded forest coming together in a waterfall.

In this garden there are no straight lines, since the design tries to reproduce the spontaneous design of nature, as recommended and realized in his garden designs and scenaries William Kent, continuing the traditions and schemes of Alexander Pope and of course, followed the ideas of Lancelot "Capability" Brown who eliminates all geometric patterns in his garden designs.

It is highly probable that the "Villar d'Allen" garden was one of the first picturesque in Portugal in the forest of the "Quinta" where an abundance of acclimatized and diversified and exotic imported plants exits, there are no geometric formations which makes one believe that all thet is there is a happening of nature.

The shapping of the garden coincided with the crest of the romantic movement in Europe and in Porto at that time, it was also received with enthusiasm because of the strong relationships between the marvelous and important families in the area sustaine wiyh those of England and other european countries.

Its highly probable tht the german scenic architect Emilio David made some type of contribution in tha "Quinta de Villar d'Allen" having left his mark, because it was well known that he had been engaged by the Vicecount Villar d'Allen, Alfredo Ayres Gouveia Allen to design and complete another emblematic garden in the City of Porto, which was the Cordoaria Garden, today known as The Garden of Joao Chagas.

Walking through the garden with its densely populated vegetation, we see and abundance of ponds, fountains, arches, and vases accredited to Nicolau Nasoni, pergolas, columns, small stairways and other ornamental decorations illustrate a mixture of romanticism and essentials from italian gardening.

This treed monument, with majestic palm trees, spectacular rhododendrons and the quantity and variety of old camellias that only seeing it studying them and classifying them serenely, requires one to visit for many days to apreciate to flavor of old foliage that lives here.

Besides growing the family of camellia that originated in the Quinta Villar dÀllen, in the same garden the camellias, " Bella Romana", "Bella de Firenze", "Oranda ko", "Il Cigno", Alba Simplex", "Arcozelo", and many others can be found.

Some of the flowers remind us of old italian cultivators, especially those related to the Italian Society of thr Camellia, "Vergine di Colle Beato". The loftiness of the flowered tree prevented a exact identification, but during our conversations, Dona Isaura Allen remind us of the close ties between her family and italian families and the possibility that some of the types of older camellias in the garden had their origin from there.

These words also serve as an appreciation to Dona Isaura Allen for her courteousness and kindliness to show us personally her beautiful garden and her explanations about the floral variety in the garden and especially the most valuable observations and details of her camellias.

Daniel Domínguez ‘O Kintos'.

© José C. García/Daniel Domínguez/E.Valent - 2005