400-Year-Old Goa Mansion Restored as Heritage Homestay

When architect Rochelle Santimano first walked through Villa Saudade in Arpora, Goa, she could still see bullet marks on the main door from centuries-old battles between the Portuguese and Marathas. Now, guests wake up to sunlight streaming through colorful paned windows in this 400-year-old mansion turned heritage homestay.

The home belonged to the Pinho family, one of Goa's oldest Portuguese families. Descendant Vasco Pinho, a historian and author, leased the property to Acaso Living in 2020 for restoration after it sat empty for decades.

Santimano, 33, faced a unique challenge: how to honor four centuries of history while creating comfortable modern accommodations. The 4,500 square foot property had survived Portuguese rule, colonial warfare, and Goa's famous hippie era of the 1960s and 70s when European travelers made the house their temporary home.

The architect spent six months carefully restoring the mansion without changing its essential character. She kept the structure intact, adding only modern necessities like attached bathrooms to each bedroom.

Locals had always called it "The White and Blue House," so Santimano kept those signature colors, simply softening the white and changing the blue to aqua. She polished and waxed the traditional red oxide floors typical of Goan homes and added elegant grey tiles in select areas.

The Ripple Effect

The restoration breathed new life into original furnishings rather than replacing them. Old trunks and chests that once stored books became bedside tables. The original dining table, armchairs, study table, and windows with mother of pearl shells all found new purpose.

Even the balustrade and architraves stayed in place, connecting modern guests to generations of previous residents. Natural wood furnishings complement the preserved pieces throughout the seven-bedroom property.

Villa Saudade has welcomed guests from across India and overseas for over two years now. Visitors lounge by the swimming pool and enjoy traditional Goan sausages while surrounded by living history.

The project shows how thoughtful preservation can honor the past while creating something useful for the future, giving this resilient old mansion many more years of stories to tell.