The morphology of the traditional Portuguese town arises in the Middle Ages and is similar, in its formation, to most Western European town-making processes spurred by defensive and commercial needs. The traditional Portuguese town supports a single base building typology for private use, which remained relatively stable from the sixteenth to the early twentieth century. The morada de duas casas (two-house dwelling) thus formed is also known as habitação de frente estreita (narrow-frontage housing). The habitação de frente estreita is subsequently developed into the morada de casas altas (tall-house dwelling) as well as into the habitação de frente larga (broad- frontage housing). As a railway town, the initial urban and architectural growth of Beirã is rapid and homogeneous. A few pre-existing rural storage buildings, known locally as furdões, have survived as ruins. A minimal street network articulates a regular parcel pattern that has evolved in the same way as the medieval Portuguese town, with alleys being upgraded to streets with frontage. Regional typology breaks down in the town extension towards the highway, in the south, as well as in some infill built near the railway and on the hill after the 1950s.