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Bladder, living history of the origins of the city of São Paulo

Research aims to bring contributions to interventions that guarantee the preservation of a threatened cultural asset

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Graduated in architecture from the Polytechnic of Turin, capital of the Piedmont region, Italy, where she is originally from, Giulia Vercelli came to Brazil interested in studying issues related to Italian migration, practically unknown in her country, and the São Paulo construction heritage she left behind. He was enchanted by the old neighborhood of Bela Vista, in the central region of the capital, better known as Bexiga, the name given to the subdivision, in 1890, of the old Chácara do Bexiga, apparently so called because its former owner was known as Antônio Bexiga due to his face marked by smallpox. 

Photo: Scarpa
Architect Giulia Vercelli, author of the research: “It is necessary to read the layers of time”

But he soon realized that there was little knowledge of the constructive history of this neighborhood and that the available literature on Italian influence reflected an allegory, a fiction about an Italy that no longer exists, without valuing the multicultural interactions that São Paulo was the scene of. at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. Even though she maintains her interest in the constructive legacy of the Italians, she began to observe the neighborhood from a new perspective, as she considers that “contemporary Bexiga, just as in its origins, is a multicultural melting pot of new immigrants, continuing as a welcoming place for who starts a new life in the capital”.

Furthermore, as it is one of the oldest neighborhoods in São Paulo, its maintenance allows us to learn about an important phase in the history of the city's development, essential for new generations to realize that beauty is not just in the buildings mirrored. Preserving Bexiga means keeping the history of the city and its roots alive.

Photo: Department of Historical Heritage of São Paulo (DPH)
Plan of the Capital of the State of São Paulo and its surroundings, drawn and published by Jules Martin, 1890 | Source: Department of Historical Heritage of São Paulo (DPH)

The research then turned to identifying and analyzing the current state of conservation of buildings and historical complexes in Bexiga that still bear witness to architectural typologies and particular characteristics of insertion in the urban fabric related to the development of the city of São Paulo. Its recognition as an unequivocal historical heritage occurred in 2002, when the neighborhood was subject to complete listing, resulting from the implementation of the city's General Inventory of Environmental, Cultural and Urban Heritage, an unprecedented documentation system for the systematic study of the old neighborhoods in its central area. for his protection. The general objective of the research, of an exploratory nature, was to reflect on changes that occurred in the neighborhood, relating them to its historical development from the point of view of architectural and urban representation, which implied the reevaluation of this inventory. The researcher structured her dissertation to go beyond allegory and deepen knowledge of the historical formation of the city and the Bexiga neighborhood.

In the research, guided by professor Regina Andrade Tirello, from the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Urbanism (FEC) at Unicamp, she reflects on the changes that have occurred in the neighborhood, relating them to its historical development and its architectural and urban permanence in the city . More than that, the central issue that permeated her investigation was the observation of the lack of effective preservation of assets of cultural interest located in the neighborhood, which has contributed to the loss of significant examples of São Paulo's historic architecture. In view of this, the author sought to understand how urban and preservationist legislation impacts issues involving the neighborhood's historical construction heritage. To this end, she analyzed the architectural transformations that are taking place in the neighborhood, which was fully listed in 2002, and focused on identifying the current state of conservation of its buildings and historical complexes.

Bexiga Staircase 1929 – 2018.
Bexiga Staircase 1929 – 2018 | Source (image on the left): www.dicionarioderuas.prefeitura.sp.gov.br/ | Accessed on 15 Nov. 2017. On the right, photograph taken by Giulia Vercelli on 05/03/2018. 

In this neighborhood, which started in Piques, next to the current city center, and went up along what is now Avenida Brigadeiro Luiz Antonio until reaching the later Avenida Paulista, known for its cantinas, where old and beautiful houses alternate with others in ruins, the researcher was faced with its historical character and the maintenance of its multi-ethnic characteristics, occupied as it was in its origins, from the end of the 19th century, mainly by Italians, Spaniards and black people freed from slavery and today by northeasterners, Portuguese-speaking Africans, Haitians and Syrians, who maintain their popular characteristics. Even without being aware of what the neighborhood represents for the historical memory of São Paulo, its current residents have a particular affection for it, they occupy its streets and get to know each other, and a different atmosphere can be identified in it.

She clarifies that, even with the extensive survey of the neighborhood's historical heritage and listing of its most significant buildings carried out by the Department of Historical Heritage of São Paulo, which culminated in standards that need to be respected, this is not always the case, or due to lack of inspection or because the owners, unable to maintain the properties, prefer to let them fall, which allows them to later sell the land or transform it into a parking lot. This conflict between legislation and pressures from the real estate market constitutes a major threat to Bexiga, occupied by low-rise houses that, if demolished, will give rise to verticalization and the loss of its identity. Given this situation and the danger of the progressive extinction of this rich historical heritage as a result of real estate exploitation and the city's master plan that encourages vertical integration, the researcher set out to study and suggest measures that could help preserve this part of the city deeply linked to the its development. She hopes that her work will help improve future inventories of historic neighborhoods in the city of São Paulo.


Sources

To develop the work, the author considered it important to first study the formation of the city and the origin and development of the neighborhood in order to understand its current context and suggest interventions that guarantee its preservation. To meet these objectives, she chose Saverio Muratori's system as a method of analysis, which provides a concomitant reading of architectural typology with the development of urban layout, which led her to adapt the studies of the Italian professor and architect, who applied them in Rome and mainly Venice, in the 1950s and 1960s.

Muratori considered that, to design for today, it is essential to know the historical origin of the city, the reasons for its layout, its architectural importance and the use of buildings and not just its current aesthetic aspects. By the way, she says: “Bexiga is important not only for its characteristic buildings and beautiful palaces, but also for the layout of its streets and blocks, revealing the history of the formation of the city of São Paulo”.

Rua São Domingos 1922 – 2018
Rua São Domingos 1922 – 2018 | Source (image on the left): AHMWL | Historical Archive of São Paulo. In: SCHNECK, 2010, p.184. On the right, photograph taken by Giulia Vercelli on 05/03/2018

The original shape of Bexiga reflects the geomorphological configuration of the region, occupied by unhealthy hills and swamps and crossed by three streams that ended up being channelized with the development of the site. These inhospitable characteristics made lot prices cheaper, which attracted immigrants and freed blacks at the end of the 19th century.

After carrying out a historical review of the formation of São Paulo and Bexiga and the analysis theory proposed by Muratori and his followers, adapting it to local conditions, she adopted as a case study the three blocks that today make up Rua São Domingos, where the famous bakery of the same name is located. The street was chosen because it is one of the oldest in the neighborhood and because it contains several old, listed buildings, with typical typologies of the neighborhood and which, in addition, underwent a major change with the construction of the East-West Radial.

From there, she constructed a representative typological classification of the street's buildings, using São Paulo's cartographic archives, despite their precariousness, as most of these maps only contain the layout of the streets, without the drawing of the lots, which are indicated only from 1930 onwards. The first and few buildings recorded on the maps date back to the 1910s.

Rua 13 de Maio 1921 – 2018
Rua 13 de Maio 1921 – 2018 | Source (image on the left): São Paulo Historical Archive. In: SCHNECK, 2010, p. 187. On the right, photograph taken by Giulia Vercelli on 05/03/2018. The presence of a decorative detail below the window of the building on the right side, allowed the precise location of the image from 1921, corresponding today to Rua 13 de Maio n. 298
NOTE: SCHNECK, 2010, refers to Sheila Schneck. Formation of the Bexiga neighborhood in São Paulo: developers, owners, builders, building types and users (1881-1913). São Paulo: FAU/USP, 2010. (Master’s thesis)

Even so, based on what he found in the archives, between 1910 and 1930, and what exists today, he was able to outline several architectural types that constitute support for understanding the chronology of what must have happened on the street chosen for study between the decades 1910 and 1960. Based on this and what existed in the 1980s, when the first inventory took place, and what was recorded in the large inventory of 2002, she concluded that the change in the neighborhood was great. However, the researcher emphasizes the importance of the discovery that, although the facade of the houses, townhouses or buildings may have changed, the shape of the lots remains the same, narrow and long, as well as the skeletons of the buildings.


The contributions

Giulia Vercelli considers that the intellectual bias of her work lies in the proposal to reinvent to preserve, as stated in the title of her thesis, which addresses Bexiga from its origins to contemporary times. She believes that Professor Muratori's method, which focuses on looking at the shape of the city and architectural typologies, with the necessary adaptations, can be applied to the study of any historic neighborhoods in São Paulo and other Brazilian cities. In this particular, she says: “I use the words of my mentors, who are Muratori and his disciples: it is necessary to read the layers of time, and preserving these layers is fundamental to our civility”.

The author considers that a more serious intervention in the Bexiga neighborhood must come from higher authorities that need to guarantee its financial support. She is hopeful that participatory action will emerge, as the people who live in the neighborhood love it and their associations fight for its preservation. Even so, there is a need for more knowledge of its historical importance for the city of São Paulo, especially on the part of those who live there, as it is knowledge that leads people to attribute more value to its property.

As it is a popular and multi-ethnic neighborhood, Bexiga, from the beginning, was never 100% Italian, although at the end of the XNUMXth century the majority of its residents were in fact from Italy, a situation that changed over time with the arrival of blacks and other European immigrants. The spirit of the neighborhood remains because people know each other, they live together on the street where children also play and no one wants to lose this common space. But it would be important for its residents to be aware of the architecture that surrounds them to understand the importance of preserving and maintaining the essential characteristics of buildings.

Rua São Domingos n. 80
Rua São Domingos n. 80 | Project for a two-story house with a warehouse on the ground floor of the famous Padaria São Domingos, 1913. Plan not to scale. Source: AHMWL | São Paulo Historical Archive, OP1913-004.609, box OP256. Photo on the right: author’s personal archive, 03/08/2017

The work constitutes the first evaluation of the unprecedented inventory carried out on the neighborhood, in 2002, by the Department of Historical Heritage of São Paulo, and is still very little known today. This survey had two objectives: to register all the assets in the neighborhood, which was done successfully, and to carry out deeper studies on the listed assets and propose interventions, which unfortunately were not followed up. To evaluate this work in today's terms, the author consulted the listing processes and the records of each property listed, available at the Department, which include a black and white photo and basic information about the construction and its location, recorded at pencil and capable of being erased by the action of time.   

 From a more practical point of view, the author believes that the work could be useful for future studies, especially in the area of ​​architecture, which will rely on Muratori's concepts, as she translated many of the texts that expose her ideas into Portuguese. This was possible for her because, in addition to access to the library at the Polytechnic of Turin, she was able to borrow several books from professors, consultations and readings that even allowed her to outline the structure of the dissertation.

Playback
 

Schematic reconstruction
Schematic reconstruction of the main evolutions of the base type – the house – on Rua São Domingos. From simple single-story houses to beautiful townhouses. Drawings prepared by the author, not to scale

 

JU-online cover image
Audio description: in black and white photo from 1920, panoramic and frontal image of a dirt street, in the center of the image, with a slope that runs towards the bottom of the image. There are about six people standing, spread out along a section of the street, who appear to be working there with hoes. On the left, there is a group of four children sitting at the top of a ravine, close to an extensive and high concrete wall that runs behind them. On the right, there are facades of concrete buildings, with friezes, and trees. Image 1 of 1.

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