Unfortunately, Biester died childless in the same year and the responsibility for building the house passed to his brother, Frederico and his wife Amélia Freitas Guimarães Chamiço, who came from a family of bankers.

The couple were extremely wealthy, well-travelled, and well-informed about international trends, particularly admiring the mansions that lined the boulevards of Paris after the reforms in the layout of that city instituted by Georges-Eugène Haussmann.

Described as an eclectic revivalist mansion with influences drawn from the Romantic and neo-Gothic styles, the building is considered one of the most representative works of Monteiro.

[6] Its present condition remains faithful to the original design and reflects the fact that it was intended to be both a home and an important venue for the couple's social life.

[1][4][5][6][7][8] On the ground floor, the library and reading room features a ceiling painted with complex mysterious pagan symbols, which are not fully understood.

It takes its inspiration from the Knights Templar, who had connections with Sintra going back to the Reconquista, and has symbolic paintings and impressive stained-glass windows of Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Ávila, Elizabeth of Portugal, and Saint Joseph.

The ceiling of the master bedroom was also painted by Baudry and has an angel with the “Mona Lisa effect,” with the eyes seeming to follow the observer.

[9] In 1999 the building was used as a set for the film The Ninth Gate directed by Roman Polanski and starring Johnny Depp, Lena Olin and Frank Langella.