Teles’ House and Arch, Colonial Portuguese house with stone arch in Centro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Teles' House is a colonial residence with a stone arch passage in downtown Rio de Janeiro. The arch connects Praça XV de Novembro to Rua do Ouvidor and creates a pedestrian route between two main streets in the center.
The building dates from Portuguese colonial times and belonged to the influential Teles de Menezes family. A major fire in 1790 severely damaged the structure and destroyed important city documents stored inside.
The house displays Portuguese colonial architecture from the 17th century. Singer Carmen Miranda lived in a room here while her mother ran a boarding house, making it a place connected to Brazil's entertainment history.
The arch passage is open to pedestrians and leads to Travessa do Comércio with colonial buildings nearby. Visitors can walk through the narrow alley and see the restored facades of neighboring structures in this historic quarter.
A cannonball from the 1893 Navy Revolt struck the adjacent Church of Our Lady of Lapa Merchants and left impact marks visible today. These scars show the physical traces from a turbulent period in Brazilian history.
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