At the beginning of the 20th century, and following the reform of the lyceum educational system by the Ministry and Secretary-of-State for Business, in 1905, Eduardo José Coelho the public school equipment initiated a period of development.

[1] This involved the rationalization of teaching which extended to the reorganization of spaces, as exemplified by architects Miguel Ventura Terra and José Marques da Silva, who worked on many of the lyceums in Lisbon and Porto.

[1] In Lisbon, Ventura Terra was responsible for work done on the Pedro Nunes (1906), Camões (1907) and Maria Amália (1913) lyceums, which became a reference to school architecture in the era and modernized the building culture of the city.

[1] In 1907, Miguel Ventura Terra (1866-1919) was commissioned by the Ministry of the Kingdom and Direção-geral da Instrução Secundária Superior Especial to install a lyceum on State lands.

[1] The lyceum, owing to its purpose-built nature (from scratch and specific to teaching) was an architectural educational reference, both formally and esthetically, respecting the functional necessities of the site.

[1] Ventura Terra delineated a construction model that was more simple then the habitual designs, responding to the a request by the first rector of the Central Lyceum, Rui Teles Palhinha: Ventura Terra therefore included rectangular articulated blocks, using new materials for the time (iron and tile) and a composition that did not include closed corridors in favour of halls open to the patio and exterior galleries, and multiple recreational spaces.