Solar do Jambeiro — Niterói, Rio de Janeiro

About the building

The Solar do Jambeiro — also recorded as the Palacete Bartholdy — sits on Rua Presidente Domiciano in Ingá, the residential quarter between Niterói's center and Icaraí. It is one of the best-preserved examples of mid-19th-century urban residential architecture in the state: the facade and even the roof tiles are faced in authentic Portuguese pattern azulejos, with blue-and-white glazing imported from Porto, over a plan of fourteen rooms, five salons and deep eaves.

Today it operates as a city-run cultural center, hosting exhibitions, small concerts and courtyard events, so unlike most listed mansions it can actually be visited. For the directory's purposes it is the benchmark for what Niterói's prosperous bayfront looked like before the apartment towers.

Address: Rua Presidente Domiciano 195, Ingá, Niterói

History

The mansion was built in 1872 by Bento Joaquim Alves Pereira, a Portuguese merchant, at a time when Niterói's bayside streets were filling with the houses of trading families. IPHAN listed it as national heritage in 1974, recognizing the tiled facade as one of the most important azulejo ensembles in Brazil.

After decades of private ownership and decline, the city of Niterói expropriated the property in 1997 to protect it, ran a full restoration from 1998 to 2001, and reopened it on 22 November 2001 as a cultural space under the municipal arts foundation.