Street level near Edifício Lellis-São Paulo
The first residential building on Avenida Atlântica.
Landmark buildingEdifício Lellis-São Paulo is the building that made beachfront living on Copacabana a real thing. Work started in 1928 at the corner of Av. Atlântica and Rua Barão de Ipanema, and it opened in 1931 in neoclassical style — the quality of the detailing is what historians point to when they say this is the moment the avenue stopped being a strip of sand and became an address.
It's a twin-building complex: the first sits on the Av. Atlântica corner, the second one block back on Rua Domingos Ferreira. Apartments are mid-sized for the avenue, with neoclassical bones and the kind of full-frontal Atlantic view that has been lived in almost continuously for nearly a century.
Address: Av. Atlântica × Rua Barão de Ipanema, Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro
Merchant Domingos Lellis built it as a residential investment on what was, in 1928, still an experimental waterfront. The design came from Paulista architect Cristiano Stockler das Neves — a leading neoclassicist of the 1920s São Paulo school who later served as mayor of São Paulo — and it was built across 1928 to 1931.
The complex first opened with eight floors; a ninth was added about a decade later, gaining a shared terrace at the top. It is the oldest residential building on Praia de Copacabana and a recurring reference point in the conversation about the avenue's heritage stock.
The nearest 12 apartments for sale to Edifício Lellis-São Paulo, in July 2026, sat in the 290 m around Edifício Lellis-São Paulo. Of those, 8 were on Av. Atlântica itself. Asking prices ran from R$ 1,500,000 for a 80 m² two-bedroom to R$ 8,500,000 for a 420 m² four-bedroom. Half asked less than R$ 3,556,000; per square meter the median was R$ 14,807. Most asks per m² fell from R$ 12,707 to R$ 19,866.
The listing mix leaned to homes with four or more bedrooms: 6 of the 12, sized 111–535 m². A parking space came with 7 of the 12. Condo fee plus IPTU: median R$ 4,692 a month.
Compared with Secovi Rio's Copacabana figure of R$ 11,922/m² (December 2025), the R$ 14,807 median near Edifício Lellis-São Paulo is 24% above it. Cardeal Arcoverde / Copacabana station sits roughly 660 m from the door as the crow flies.
| Bedrooms | Listings | Size | Asking price | Median per m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2 | 80 m² | R$ 1,500,000 – 1,750,000 | R$ 20,312 |
| 3 | 4 | 165–300 m² | R$ 2,300,000 – 7,000,000 | R$ 12,731 |
| 4 or more | 6 | 111–535 m² | R$ 1,600,000 – 8,500,000 | R$ 14,807 |
Asks, not sale prices: 12 public listings within 290 m of Edifício Lellis-São Paulo, 1 July 2026. Secovi Copacabana data.
Source: Diário do Rio de Janeiro — história do Edifício Lellis
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