Bardez Communities Administration
Equipment and Infrastructures
The Bardez Communities Administration building is situated on top of a hill, occupying a plot south of the lyceum, on the same street at the City Council. Although the precise date of its construction is not known, it was after the lyceum and the court, which allows the date limits to be set at 1936 and 1958.
This is a two-storey building with a U-shaped volume. The façades are different, with an evident effort to make the main façade stand out. Noteworthy here is the false symmetry achieved by the two neoclassical porticos flanking the main entrance, projecting from the volume of the whole. The entire lower floor of these components, as well as the central body, is rusticated. The two volumes that jut out from the façade plane have pediment-topped verandas on the upper floor. The decoration is also enhanced by simple geometric elements and on the lower floor by the unusual way the cornerstones are emphasised.
The back façade is quite simple. A central veranda projects from the main floor, which may have been added to the original construction. Although the side façades have much less decoration that the front, with identical galleries on both floors, the cornerstones of their volumes are marked the same way as in front, making a transition between the main and back elevations.
The internal organisation is not symmetric, as the upper floor is accessed via the north side, countering the image conveyed by the main elevation. The staircase leads to a large cross-ventilated room that occupies the entire south side and is protected by the galleries, and also to a small room on the north side and to the back, where there are two more rooms. The central entrance on the ground floor, which accesses a single large room, gives directly onto the street.
The building seems to have undergone no major changes over the years, besides the one mentioned, the most significant being a raiguard built in the central section of the main façade. It is not known if this is part of the joint plan for the area, though it is possible, given that the façade is perfectly aligned with the lyceum’s. Once again emphasis is given to climate concerns and an image of state representation, presumably due to influence from British India.