Architecture from the 1920’s in a Block of Avenida São João

This article is about the architecture developed on a fragment in the old city center of São Paulo, Brazil. After in-depth research about a small extension of Avenida São João, it was realized that a volumetric unit of buildings was in two blocks near Vale of Anhangabaú. As a result of the first modern urban intervention in the city in 1912, and according to the law that determined the extension of the old street, (Rua) São Joã became Avenida São João, and all primitive buildings were demolished to reconstruct new eclectic constructions. These reconstructions were designed by important architects and engineers working around the town in the 1920s. To know the city’s architecture many original documents were investigated, such as drawings and projects in the Historical Archive of São Paulo. They are the basis for writing this text, complemented by the studied iconography, historic cartography and some laws of the occasion that allowed this urban work of great impact in the city. Currently, the research focuses on two blocks with five eclectic buildings built on each one. These buildings have good designs that survived the new demolitions of the 1950s and so on. The architecture recorded in documents deals with the memory of a city that no longer exists, the city built in the 1920s and soon thereafter. A proposed urban environment was disintegrated in time. This reveals that the city of São Paulo is always vulnerable to losing collective urban memory, which warns us about the importance of protecting the remaining assets. This material can be useful for future restoration and conservation projects of these buildings.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC

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