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 was built from around 1745 for judge Antônio Telles Barreto de Menezes, who rented the upper floors to the city's elite; the Câmara Municipal moved into part of it in 1750. In 1925 Carmen Miranda's family moved into the sobrado at Travessa do Comércio no. 13, where her mother ran a boarding house with meals; that address is now a restaurant.
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.
The arch's interior once held a small oratory with an image of Our Lady of Pleasures, placed there by Antônio Telles as a sign of devotion. After the 1790 fire the area declined, and a resident removed the image to the Church of Santo Antônio dos Pobres, where it remains.
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