Palazzo Iseppo Porto: Plan and section

The Palazzo Iseppo Porto was originally planned as a double site reconstructing the antique Roman house as conceived by Palladio, with two residential blocks linked by a peristyle court with colossal columns, although only the front portion was completed.

In the original plan for the palazzo, the owner’s quarters were intended to occupy the part of the site towards the street, while the guest-rooms were to be in the rear block, in the manner of the ancient Roman residence as reconstructed by Vitruvius. The main house was to have been emphasized by two blocks projecting out each side of the central range, although in plan their rooms were not connected to those of the palace. The rooms of the palace, of progressively smaller volume, are grouped at right angles to one another around two staircases, giving rise to two virtually self-contained residential suites facing each other on either side of the central entrance atrium and reflecting Palladio’s preference for an axially symmetrical plan.

The drawing is from Palladio’s Palladio’s I Quattro libri dell’architettura, published in 1570. It shows the plan and section of the palazzo.