São Paulo – Welcome to a scenery of high-ceiling houses adorned by tiles, U-shaped arches and latticework balconies. Yes, Brazil also has houses and buildings in the best Arab style. Especially the city of São Paulo, which received the majority of Arab immigrants. In the streets, more attentive observers will notice, here and there, some of the delicate Arab architecture.
According to the architect and professor of the School of Fine Arts of São Paulo, Rafael Manzo, This legacy arrived here indirectly, starting with Portuguese colonization. “The Portuguese tiles, for instance, come from the Moor tradition, as do latticework, verandas, arches and balconies,” he explains. “We cannot forget that the Iberian Peninsula remained under Moor occupation for seven centuries, and that had a very strong impact on Portugal and Spain,” he says.
Manzo also claims that Arab influence in the architecture of São Paulo was primarily a way for immigrants to reaffirm their origin. “It was usual for foreigners to build houses indicating the native country of those who lived in them. This was true of the Italians as well,” he says. “When it came to Arab houses, even non-Islamic families sought to include features of Arab architecture in their constructions, such as U-shaped and bulb-shaped arches,” he explains.
Further on, as they thrived, especially in trade, many immigrants moved into mansions with elements of French architecture, which were considered more elegant at that time. “It was a way of showing to others the good financial situation of the house’s owners, in an attempt to end prejudice against families of Arab origin,” says Manzo.
As examples of buildings with typical Arab features that exist until this day in the capital of São Paulo, the professor cites commercial and residential buildings in the city’s South Side. “In the vicinities of the 25th of March Street, in the Centre, there are buildings built by Syrians and Lebanese with several references to Arab architecture,” says Manzo.
It was precisely with the objective of highlighting these references that the architect and professor at Mackenzie Presbyterian University, Sami Bussab, along with his colleagues Paulo de Melo Saraiva and Miguel Juliano, came up with the idea that won the contest for the plan of the Syrian Sports Club party hall, in São Paulo, in 1965. “We used arches to fill up the room, in an interpretation of this Arab element within modern architecture,” he explains.
According to Bussab, Mount Lebanon Club, also in São Paulo, features internal areas adorned with details such as designs on the ceiling and floor to pay homage to the origins of its members.
Also of Arab origin, the architect, advisor to the Institute of Architects of Brazil and director of Mútua São Paulo, Marcelo Hobeika, was born in the city of Campinas, in the interior of the state of São Paulom but lived in Lebanon with his family from age 3 to 18. In order to remember his country, where according to him the houses have patios and open spaces, Hobeika likes to walk around the centre of São Paulo. “The region surrounding the Viaduto do Chá bridge, where traffic of pedestrians and cars is always heavy, reminds me of Lebanon,” says he, with the authority of someone who has admired Arab architecture since he was little.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
