São Paulo – Everyone knows that he came from Lebanon to win. And win he did. In 1898, he founded Casa da Bóia, one of the oldest stores in operation in the city of São Paulo. The success of Rizkallah Jorge Tahan lies in the fact that he discovered a market niche that was untapped in Brazil up to then: copper melting. He would melt, manufacture and then sell his copper products. Further on, the business evolved into manufacturing of bathroom items, such as siphons, pipes, valves and the valves for water tanks after which the enterprise is named. What few people know is that, aside from driving a good bargain, Rizkallah was also an accomplished builder. He made his mark by erecting at least six buildings in the central region of São Paulo.
Among the works that were erected by the Lebanese entrepreneur, already deceased, are buildings Palacete São Jorge and Palacete Paraíso, on Rua Carlos de Souza Nazaré, and Rua Florêncio de Abreu, 157, and Casa da Bóia itself, at Florêncio de Abreu, 123, as well as a building at number 1003 on 25 March Street and the mansion where Rizkallah lived with his family, on the corner of Paulista Avenue with Bela Cintra street, which has already been knocked down.
"In the early 20th Century, civil construction was good business, due to the great urban transformations being lived by the city of São Paulo,” said architect and Fine Arts College professor Rafael Manzo. "Rizkallah’s buildings were well built and were attuned to the existing architectural styles”. According to Manzo, all works are eclectic, with references from several schools.
The combination of sense of opportunity and taste for architecture is confirmed by Rizkallah’s grandson and current director at Casa da Bóia, Mário Roberto Rizkallah. "He had a taste for beautiful things,” said Mário. "He hired an Italian foreman for the construction of Casa da Bóia, and asked for it in art noveau style,” he explains. In 2008, the shop’s headquarters, that had been under restoration since 1997, received the ornamental painting that decorated the upper walls of the sales hall and the original counters, where clients are served to date, were redone.
The family house, in turn, which occupied a corner on Paulista Avenue up to the 1970s, was "more in French style”. "It was a spacey house, with five or six rooms,” recalled Mário.
Apart from providing comfortable installations for his heirs, Rizkallah was also concerned about helping those of his nationality and friends to erect buildings in several areas of São Paulo. “He gave money for the construction of the Syrian-Lebanese hospital’s first building,” said Sossi Amiralian, a professor and editor of the Armenia 2010 newsletter. "Another activity in this direction was the donation of money for the construction of the Armenian Apostolic Church of Brazil,” said Sossi, explaining that the legacy of the Lebanese entrepreneur goes beyond the famous shop and museum he erected on Florência de Abreu.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum and Mark Ament
