José Ângelo Cottinelli Telmo

José Ângelo Cottinelli Telmo (1897–1948) was a Portuguese architect, filmmaker, poet, artist, and musician. He believed that architecture was not based on a single discipline, but on the unification of various artistic disciplines.

Career

Along with Carlos João Chambers Ramos, Luís Cristino da Silva, Jorge Segurado, Porfírio Pardal Monteiro, and Cassiano Branco, Telmo initially pioneered modernism in architecture in Portugal but later followed the neoclassical style favoured by the government. In April 1923 he was employed as an architect by the Portuguese Railway Company (Companhia dos Caminhos de Ferro Portugueses), for which he would carry out numerous projects, most notably the monumental atrium created during the remodelling of Rossio railway station in Lisbon and the South and Southeast railway station, located in Terreiro do Paço, built between 1929 and 1931, which connected passengers from Lisbon by boat to the Barreiro railway station south of the river Tagus, before railway lines were added to the 25 de Abril Bridge in 1999.

In 1930, Telmo participated in the First Independents' Salon at the National Society of Fine Arts. Three years later, he directed A Canção de Lisboa, the first entirely Portuguese sound film and a landmark in Portuguese filmography at the time, with a cast that included Vasco Santana, Beatriz Costa, and António Silva. In 1934, he was appointed by Pacheco to the Commission for Prison Construction, designing new buildings and remodelling projects throughout the country as well as in Portugal's colonies, such as the Tarrafal concentration camp.

In 1936, Telmo joined the paramilitary Portuguese Legion and composed the music for the anthem of the Portuguese Youth, an organization that was compulsory for everyone between 7 and 14. He edited the magazine Arquitetos from 1938 until 1942; wrote an art criticism column in the newspaper Ação (1941–42), contributed to the Mocidade Portuguesa Feminina (Portuguese Women's Youth) monthly bulletin between 1939 and 1947, and also contributed to the magazine Ilustração Portugueza.

In 1941, he was elected secretary of the Council of the National Union of Architects and three years later took office as president. In the elections for the Union's governing bodies in March 1948, he was defeated by a group headed by Francisco Keil do Amaral but Amaral was prevented from taking office for political reasons. Later that year, Telmo was one of the main drivers of the First National Congress of Architecture, which led to the emergence of a new, socially committed generation that would challenge the leadership of Telmo's own generation.

Awards and recognition In 1941, Telmo was awarded the Grand Cross of the Military Order of Christ. An exhibition of his work, called Os Arquitectos são Poetas também (Architects are also poets) was held at the Monument of Discoveries in 2014. In 2024 he was posthumously made an honorary member of the Order of Architects. A street is named after him in Parede in the Cascais municipality and one in the Sintra municipality.

Memorial to Cottinelli Telmo at the spot in Cascais where he met his death while fishing. Death Telmo died on 18 September 1948, in a sport fishing accident near Cascais. The spot where he died is marked by a simple stone memorial.

Major works Telmo's architectural work included:

1921–22. Portuguese Pavilion of Honour, International Exhibition, Rio de Janeiro (with Carlos Ramos and Luís da Cunha). 1923–25. Camões School, Entroncamento (with Luís Cunha). 1925–27. Model houses in the Camões neighbourhood, Entroncamento. 1928. Passenger building, Tomar railway station 1930. Latino Coelho High School, Lamego. 1931. South and Southeast Station, Lisbon. 1938. S. Pedro do Sul Regional Prison (construction, 1946). 1939–40. Plan of the Portuguese World Exhibition; Garden and Luminous Fountain, Praça do Império; Pavilion of the Portuguese in the World; Monument to the Discoveries (with Leopoldo de Almeida). 1943. General plan of the University City of Coimbra; Monumental Staircase (completed in 1950). 1945. Standard Elétrica facilities (current headquarters of the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra), Av. da Índia, Lisbon (built in 1948). 1945. Penhas da Saúde Sanatorium.