Louvre Building, Residential building in São Paulo, Brazil.

The Louvre Building is a 25-story building on Avenida São Luís, 192, in central São Paulo, designed by João Artacho Jurado in the 1950s. Four of its floors are garages, and its ground level holds shops and mezzanine offices, among them travel agencies, a registry office, a bookshop, a bank and an optician. At the top, a leisure area with a small pool and a walking space looks out over the city.

The Louvre Building was designed by São Paulo-born João Artacho Jurado in the 1950s. He had no formal training in architecture and was not well received among the architects of his time, yet his projects carry easily recognisable personal traits. The building has been listed by Conpresp, the city's heritage preservation council, since 1992.

This building stands out for its decorative patterns that rejected the dominant modernist approach of its era, making it visually different from surrounding structures. The ornamental details on the facade show how architects sometimes chose to embrace embellishment rather than simplicity.

The site is best accessed on foot while exploring the downtown area and surrounding architecture. Visiting during daytime lets you see the decorative details on the facade clearly and observe how the public spaces are used.

The construction company organized annual Christmas celebrations for workers and their families with bonuses and entertainment events at the building site. This practice reflected an unusually caring approach to workers during a major construction project.