Porto, Vilanova De Gaia, 13 4400 396

Buy on the ocean and the building matters as much as the view. This villa is made for where it stands. The façade is exposed concrete and corten steel, chosen to weather with the coast instead of fighting it. The windows and façade systems are Schüco, with thermal break and double glazing for solar and acoustic control, which is what keeps salt air, wind and glare on the outside of a house this exposed. The pool is lined in Dekton. None of it will need apologising for in ten years.
Inside, the equipment list is not the usual new build list. The kitchen is Arclinea in Dekton, with Sub-Zero refrigeration, Wolf cooking, Miele dishwasher and laundry, and a Vita Gessi tap that gives boiling, filtered, chilled and sparkling water. Bathrooms are Gessi throughout, with Krion antibacterial washbasins, a bath in selected natural stone, Italbox screens and Dekton bases. Floors are Ribadão multilayer wood. Climate is Baxi underfloor heating with fan coils, heat pump water heating and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, so the house runs quietly and cheaply. Jung metal controls handle the lot. There is a Glamm ethanol fireplace and Foursteel electric towel rails. The entrance door is Dierre.
The house itself is a detached four suite villa of 459.65 m² on a 452 m² plot, over three floors. The ground floor holds a 29.30 m² living room, a 15.94 m² dining room and a separate 18.06 m² TV room, three distinct spaces rather than one open box, with the 21.69 m² kitchen alongside and a 30.13 m² terrace opening to the pool and the water. A 17.85 m² suite sits on this floor for guests, for parents, or for anyone who would rather not take stairs. There is a 12.07 m² entrance hall and a guest WC. Upstairs are three suites of 22.38 m², 23.69 m² and 38.13 m², sharing 53.04 m² of balcony facing the ocean, plus a 16.20 m² room for an office, a library or storage. The basement takes a 37.49 m² garage for two cars, a laundry, 6 m² of storage and a 36.67 m² technical zone.

The position is the part that cannot be built again. The villa is on the front line of the beach in the Seca do Bacalhau area of Vila Nova de Gaia, facing the Atlantic, with Porto across the water and the mouth of the Douro to one side. Nothing will be built in front of it. Front line land in the Porto metropolitan area is close to finished, and there are only eight houses on this stretch.

The beach is at the door, the coastal boardwalks and cycle paths run past it, and the A1 is four minutes away. El Corte Inglés, Gaia Shopping and the banking on Avenida da República are close. Porto’s UNESCO listed centre, the Port wine cellars and the airport are all a short drive. Finishes may be substituted for others of equivalent price and quality.

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