The official opening of the Lisbon-Sintra railway line in 1889 had a major effect on Sintra’s urban environment. The impossibility, however, of any expansion in the Vila Velha led to the building of a new district at a reasonable distance from the Vila Velha that was called Estefânia, in honour of Queen Stephanie of Hohenzollern, wife of D. Pedro V.The economic and social centre was therefore moved and this made it necessary to transfer the principal administrative bodies which operated from an 18th century building, near the Royal Palace.
An accessible location was chosen for the construction of the new Municipal Offices, both in respect of the Vila Velha and the borough of Estefânia, and is why the current Municipal offices were built between both districts, in the location which had, up until the date in question, been the former hermitage of São Sebastião.The construction of the new Municipal Offices, which began in 1906, in accordance with the drawings of Adães Bermudes, was completed in 1909. The building has austere facades, with subdued neo-Manueline windows. The facade contains an imposing battlement topped tower and a pyramidal tile covering, which alternately represent the Cross of Christ and the Portuguese Shield. The top displays the majestic armillary sphere with four others of smaller size on the sides with sentry-boxes forming the corners of the tower. The same facade contains a veranda, full of Manueline type arches and surmounted by a pediment displaying the municipal arms. The interior opens up into a magnificent cloister whose narrow upper balconies are richly adorned in the neo-Manueline and renaissance styles.