Instituto Moreira Salles (Casa Walther Moreira Salles) — Gávea, Rio de Janeiro

About the building

The IMS occupies the former home of banker and diplomat Walther Moreira Salles at Rua Marquês de São Vicente 476, in upper Gávea. The house was designed by Olavo Redig de Campos in 1948 and finished in 1951, with gardens and a famous curved tile mural by Roberto Burle Marx wrapping the pool terrace. It is roughly 3,000 m² of built area on a 10,500 m² hillside property.

Since 1999 it has been the Rio headquarters of the Instituto Moreira Salles, with photography and art exhibitions, a cinema, a café and gardens open to the public. For anyone weighing Gávea as a place to live, it is the clearest expression of what the neighborhood is: residential, green, and quietly cultured.

Address: Rua Marquês de São Vicente 476, Gávea, Rio de Janeiro

History

Moreira Salles, who controlled Unibanco and twice served as Brazil's ambassador to Washington, commissioned the house as both family home and a stage for diplomatic entertaining. Redig de Campos delivered one of the reference works of Brazilian modernist residential architecture — austere volumes, internal courtyards, and a seamless handoff between house and Burle Marx's landscape.

The family converted the house into the institute's Rio seat in 1999. It now holds one of Latin America's most important photography collections, including the archives of Marc Ferrez and Maureen Bisilliat.

Notable residents

Walther Moreira Salles Banker, diplomat and patron of the arts; built the house in 1951 and lived here with his family before it became the Instituto Moreira Salles in 1999.

Source: Instituto Moreira Salles