Casa Caetano de Campos

Casa Caetano de Campos is a large neoclassical school building in the Republica District, organized across multiple floors with regularly arranged windows and lateral pavilions creating its overall structure. The interior was originally designed for teacher training and later adapted for university purposes.

The building was founded in the late 1800s as the first teacher training school in São Paulo state and was meant to prepare educational professionals. In the 1930s its purpose shifted fundamentally when it became part of a new university.

The building bears the name of an important educational figure and still displays its neoclassical form with large windows and balanced facades that reflect how a modern school presented itself. Visitors can read in the architecture how education-focused and representative the early Republic wanted its public buildings to be.

The building stands at Praca da Republica near the metro station of the same name and is easily reached by public transport. It is worth exploring the surroundings since several other historical buildings and public spaces are located nearby.

The building was slated for demolition in the 1970s to make way for a transit project, but engaged residents successfully fought to protect it. This was one of the earliest successful cases in São Paulo where the public prevented a historic structure from being torn down.