Rua das Portas de Santo Antão spans centuries of Lisbon’s history and, since the 14th century, has been a fundamental axis connecting the city center and its periphery, functioning as one of the gates of the old Fernandine wall. Known as Corredoura, this straight, now pedestrianized street connects Largo de São Domingos to Largo da Anunciada, parallel to Avenida da Liberdade, and has assumed a central role in the cultural, social, and commercial life of the Baixada Fluminense region over time, definitively adopting its current name in 1956.

Home to aristocratic palaces, theaters, nightclubs, restaurants, and cultural institutions, the street is now one of Lisbon’s main cultural meeting points, bringing together emblematic spaces such as the Teatro D. Maria II, the Coliseu dos Recreios, the Teatro Politeama, the Casa do Alentejo, and the Lisbon Geographical Society. Its progressive rehabilitation has reinforced the vibrant and bohemian character that has always marked this historic thoroughfare.

It was in this context that, at the beginning of the 20th century, the Bristol Club emerged, located between 1918 and 1928 on the corner of Rua das Portas de Santo Antão and Rua do Jardim do Regedor, in the building that today houses the Café de São Bento. A true icon of bohemian Lisbon, it stood out for its luxury, modernist art, and cultural life, featuring works by artists such as Almada Negreiros and Leopoldo de Almeida, whose sculptures still remain in the space today. With the installation of the Café de São Bento and the Hotel 1904 Benfica, the building is reborn as a meeting place, respecting its historical legacy and contributing to the revitalization of this emblematic area of ​​the city.