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GPS 38.522671409195254, -8.892243646650693

Administrative/biographical/family history

By virtue of the contract of 10 December 1887 between the Government and the management of Banco de Portugal, the latter undertook to create Branch Banks and Branches in the district capitals in return for holding the monopoly on issuing banknotes. In this sequence, and in accordance with the letter of law of 29 July 1887, the State treasury services were in charge of the Banco de Portugal, provisionally organized from 1 January 1888, with the paying treasurer in charge of the district who, in accordance with Decree No. 1 of December 15, 1887, would perform the functions of the Bank's provisional agent for the State's treasury services while the Agencies were not definitively organized. Banking activity in Setúbal began with the former correspondence dependent on the Headquarters and under the responsibility of correspondent J. Nascimento e Oliveira, an important owner of navies in the region. Given the great convenience of installing a private correspondence, duly organized that would better respond to the growing commercial needs of the region, the Bank's management instructed António Pereira Tavares to install the aforementioned correspondence. As private correspondence, the correspondent was authorized to take paper over the square with deadlines never exceeding 60 days. This private correspondence would operate between the 1st of January 1917 and the 31st of August 1918, when due to the large volume of business existing in the area, the need was felt to create a definitive municipal agency, starting its functions in 2 September 1918. The first agents were António Pereira Tavares, the former correspondent, assisted in this management by José Pedro César Monteiro.

With the creation of the Setúbal district, the agency was elevated to the category of district. The district of Setúbal, with an area of ​​5064 km², is the 8th largest district and the most recent in the country, including its territory in the district of Lisbon. It would only be autonomous from this one, due to its great economic growth in 1926. The Agency's main tasks were just like the other agencies: operations with the Treasury, transfers of funds, discounting bills, foreign exchange operations, lending on pledges and depositing to private order. As a district agency, from 1926 onwards, it would absorb the Treasury cashier service, a service that began its functions at the Setubal branch on July 6, 1927.

The region was characterized by the predominance of agriculture, mainly the cultivation of potatoes and vegetables, and viticulture, with fortified and common wines from the areas of Palmela, Azeitão and Terras do Sado, in addition to fishing. The main industries were aquaculture, namely marine and rice fields, the sardine canning industry, in addition to others such as the cork and metallurgical industry. Due to the agency's large area of ​​operation and the distance of some areas from the Headquarters, there was a need for the sadina agency to absorb correspondence previously dependent on Lisbon. Thus, by decision of the Headquarters in 1924, it was determined that from 1925 correspondence from Alcácer do Sal, Grândola, Santiago do Cacém and would be subordinated to the Setubal branch. In 1958, other district correspondents were added to the existing network, which until then had still remained under the jurisdiction of the Headquarters. In 1976, with the new organic law of the Bank, in which new functions were assigned to the branches and services were restructured, the network of correspondents was extinguished.

With the 25th of April 1974, the intervention zone was greatly affected by the underlying situations evidenced by the difficulties in recovering credits granted due to the occupation and nationalization of private properties. With the end of the direct discount and the extinction of correspondents, it is worth mentioning the importance of the Setúbal branch in the new services entrusted to it: operations of goods, capital and invisible currents in foreign currency, which contributed to the economic flourishing of some activities in its area of ​​intervention, namely the cork, metalworking, chemical and repair and shipbuilding industries. This economic flourishing together with the constant shortage of staff led this agency to be an important hub for attracting human resources from the municipal agencies, which were progressively closed from 1978 onwards. and of its competences it was decided to close some district agencies, among them the branch of Setúbal which on 31 July 1994 closed its doors.

BUILDING

Primitive correspondence was initially housed in Praça do Bocage, in a house that quickly became inoperative and unsuitable for the activity for which it was intended, essentially due to its small size and lack of security conditions. In January 1917, the possibility of changing premises arose, by leasing a store on Av. Luísa Todi, but although it was recently built, it soon proved to be unsuitable for its skills due to the agency's great movement. The move took place in September 1917 and in 1921 the 1st floor of the same building was also occupied. This lease will last until the occupation of the definitive building at nº 119 of Av. Luisa Todi.

In view of the decision to install a municipal agency in the locality, the need for land for the definitive installation of the future agency implied the construction of a building from scratch. In June 1917, the City Council was asked to lease a strip of land comprising 3,489 square meters, located at Av. Luísa Todi, at the time already considered the main artery of the city, where the future building would be installed. However, the tent theater “Isabel Costa” was already installed there. Only in December 1918, with the end of the lease for this tent-theater, did the city council decide to sell the land, but now only for an area of ​​about 600 square meters, which in the opinion of the agents was enough. The land was eventually sold by the Bank in a public auction in December 1918, but was still occupied by the theater-tent, which was going through serious economic difficulties. In view of the great interest of the city council in the urban discipline of the main artery of the city, the preliminary project of the future building, by the architect Adão Bermudes, was presented to the city council in November 1919 but only in April 1922 the works started, proceeding with the demolition of the old tent-theater and at the end of that same year the project took on its definitive contours, after having been subject to successive alterations.In August 1928 the new building was occupied by services. With the construction of the new building, the two new residences for the agents, located at the back of the building, were also contemplated. The building, on two floors, has a main façade divided into three parts, the central one through which access to the interior is characterized by four adjacent columns. The entrance and lower windows have a semicircular top and the upper windows are triple in the central part and the sides have a balcony and pediment. The entire building has pilasters at the ends, stone potting and friezes at the top. The central part of the building is finished off by a pediment worked in stone, behind which the dome of the ceiling can be seen. With the closure of the Agency, its building was sold in August 1999 to AERSET – Associação Empresarial da Região de Setúbal, to set up its headquarters there.