Pinho Mansion, Historic mansion in Cidade Velha, Brazil.
Pinho Mansion is a U-shaped building designed by architect Camilo Amorim, with a front courtyard and facades covered in German tiles from Villeroy & Boch. A grand staircase leads to the main entrance on the first floor, above a habitable basement. The first floor holds a large hall and side salons, the second floor bedrooms, and the third a belvedere overlooking Guajará Bay.
Built in 1897 for Commander Antônio José de Pinho, the mansion became a centre of social, cultural and political activity in Belém during the rubber boom. After Pinho died in 1930, his heirs kept it as a residence until the last two died in 1970. Auctioned in 1978 and stripped of its interior, it was bought in 1982 by the Y. Yamada supermarket chain, which used it as a warehouse for mattresses and gas cylinders. Expropriated in 1992, it was restored by 2011 at a cost of R$7.8 million.
The Pinho family's parties filled the first-floor hall, with music rooms, a games room and a library in the side wings. The French-language account of the mansion's 1897 inauguration describes Parisian and London fashions imported for Belém's elite, plus harpsichord and piano concerts and recitations. The building later housed an exhibition of more than fifty works from the Belém Museum of Art after its 2011 restoration.
The mansion stands at 586 Doutor Assis Street in Cidade Velha, near the old centre of Belém. Its main entrance is reached by an outdoor staircase to the upper floor, while a habitable basement occupies the ground level. Access has depended on the restoration stage: closed during the 1990s court dispute, reopened in 2011, then assigned in 2022 to the Municipal Department of Education for arts activities.
The belvedere on the third floor looks out over Guajará Bay, not over the city rooftops. It is reached through the upper storey, which was planned to hold the largest number of rooms, including the bedrooms and bathrooms.
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