Aclimação
Encyclopedia
Aclimação is a prosperous neighbourhood in the central region of the city of São Paulo
, Brazil
.
It is located in the municipal district of Liberdade
, in the Sé Subprefecture
.
rivers.
The land was purchased in 1892 by Carlos Botelho, a doctor born in Piracicaba
and trained in Paris
, who was anxious to pursue an ambition he had developed during his time in France to create a Brazilian equivalent of the "Jardin d’Acclimatation" in Paris, a place used for the acclimation of exotic species, with a research centre for animal reproduction and hybridisation and including a zoo among its various attractions. Inspired by the French model, he named his property the Jardim da Aclimação, from which both the Parque da Aclimação park and the neighbourhood as a whole take their names.
For 30 years, up until the 1920s, the Garden, which was much larger then than it is today, was one of the city's most popular attractions. Botelho developed it into a place of recreation and research. It was used as a quarantine station for cattle imported from Holland. Visitors to the Garden's "creamery" were able to drink milk fresh from the cow or purchase dairy produce like cream and cheese. Before moving to Brooklin Novo, the Brazilian Equestrian Society (Sociedade Hípica Paulista) had its headquarters in the Garden, where there was also a livestock improvement station and a scientific research laboratory.
For recreation, there was the wood, a canoeing lake created by damming the streams running through the area, the city's first zoo, complete with bears, lions, monkeys, elephants, jaguars and other animals, as well as a dance hall, a skating rink, fairground stalls , an aquarium, and an amusement park. Visitors paid 300 réis to enter. As there were few people living nearby the Jardim da Aclimação could only be reached by public transport on Sundays and public holidays when the No. 28 tram ran to the Gardens from the Sé.
Adjoining the Garden were extensive private grounds belonging to the Botelho family. During the 1930s Botelho's children, to whom he had transferred ownership of the property after deciding to follow a career in politics a few years earlier, began to build on the land. In 1938, hearing that they were having difficulty keeping up with the cost of maintaining the Jardim da Aclimação and planning to build on it, the Prefect of São Paulo Prestes Maia
offered to purchase the property from them.
On 16 January 1939, Botelho's heirs Antônio Carlos de Arruda Botelho, Constança Botelho de Macedo Costa and Carlos José Botelho Júnior formalised the sale of an area of 182 thousand square metres to the Prefecture of São Paulo, for the sum of 2,850 million réis. Paradoxically rather than signalling the rebirth of the Jardim da Aclimação, the purchase spelled out the definitive end for most of its attractions and the beginning of a long period of alternating neglect and revival for the green open space.
Nevertheless between these roads built on the steepest part of the property, known as the Morro da Aclimação, originally belonging to the family of Francisco Justino da Silva, and the Rua Lins de Vasconcelos, the Avenida da Aclimação and the Jardim da Aclimação all that existed was an almost rural landscape dominated by scrubland, streams, fields and farm buildings.
In 1916, again reflecting the irregular contours of the area a series of roads were built in a semicircular arc off the Avenida da Aclimação and converging on the Largo Rodrigues Alves, the present Praça General Polidoro. These were all named after precious stones - Turmalina, Topázio, Diamante, Ágata, Safira, Esmeralda, Rubi, etc. Higher up, in the direction of the Rua Nilo, the street names took their inspiration from the planets of the solar system: Júpiter, Urano, Saturno. It was not until 1928 that the maps show an increasing number of buildings appearing on the Morro da Aclimação between the Rua Jurubatuba (now Avenida Armando Ferrentini) and the Vila Mariana cemetery.
A middle-class residential neighbourhood sprang up, dominated by single and multi-story houses occupied by Italians, Japanese, Portuguese and natives of the city of São Paulo itself. The administrative Subdistrict of Aclimação was created in 1938 but was abolished in 1986 when the municipality of São Paulo was reorganised into 96 Districts. However there is still a Civil Registry for the Subdistrict of Aclimação, established by the legal authorities at State level.
From the 1970s onwards the onward march of construction led to increasing numbers of new buildings, as the neighbourhood became more and more dominated by high-rise construction. The increase in population was followed by the establishment of banks, schools, shops, estate agents and other services attending to the needs of the local population. Along the major roads like the Avenida da Aclimação, very few private homes have managed to survive the onslaught of the property developers.
Aclimação is a stronghold of São Paulo's South Korean community. The Praça General Polidoro square is surrounded by Korean restaurants, churches and other businesses. According to local real estate surveys 30% of the area's resident population are Korean or of Korean origin. One possible explanation is the presence of Presbyterian churches nearby as most of the Koreans are Protestant Christians.
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
.
It is located in the municipal district of Liberdade
Liberdade
Liberdade is the name of a district in the subprefecture of Sé, in São Paulo, Brazil. It is home to the largest Japanese community outside of Japan in the world and has been growing since the 1950s....
, in the Sé Subprefecture
Sé (São Paulo)
Sé is the name of the most central borough in the city of São Paulo, in Brazil, divided in eight districts. The name comes from the presence of São Paulo Cathedral in the borough, and it is also the name of the central square...
.
History
Despite its central location, Aclimação is one of the newer neighbourhoods in the Downtown São Paulo, developed settled only in the 20th century. The neighbourhood has grown up on a winding hilly triangular-shaped area of land known as the Sítio Tapanhoin, bounded on its three sides by the Caminho do Mar highway to the port of Santos and the Lavapés and CambuciCambuci
Cambuci is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. Its population was 14,439 and its area is 562 km². Its population as of 2009 is 18,256 by newest recalation. It is very popular among tourists....
rivers.
The land was purchased in 1892 by Carlos Botelho, a doctor born in Piracicaba
Piracicaba
Piracicaba is a city located in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. The population in 2009 was 368,843 in an area of 1,369.511 km², at an elevation of 547 m above sea level.-Name:...
and trained in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, who was anxious to pursue an ambition he had developed during his time in France to create a Brazilian equivalent of the "Jardin d’Acclimatation" in Paris, a place used for the acclimation of exotic species, with a research centre for animal reproduction and hybridisation and including a zoo among its various attractions. Inspired by the French model, he named his property the Jardim da Aclimação, from which both the Parque da Aclimação park and the neighbourhood as a whole take their names.
For 30 years, up until the 1920s, the Garden, which was much larger then than it is today, was one of the city's most popular attractions. Botelho developed it into a place of recreation and research. It was used as a quarantine station for cattle imported from Holland. Visitors to the Garden's "creamery" were able to drink milk fresh from the cow or purchase dairy produce like cream and cheese. Before moving to Brooklin Novo, the Brazilian Equestrian Society (Sociedade Hípica Paulista) had its headquarters in the Garden, where there was also a livestock improvement station and a scientific research laboratory.
For recreation, there was the wood, a canoeing lake created by damming the streams running through the area, the city's first zoo, complete with bears, lions, monkeys, elephants, jaguars and other animals, as well as a dance hall, a skating rink, fairground stalls , an aquarium, and an amusement park. Visitors paid 300 réis to enter. As there were few people living nearby the Jardim da Aclimação could only be reached by public transport on Sundays and public holidays when the No. 28 tram ran to the Gardens from the Sé.
Adjoining the Garden were extensive private grounds belonging to the Botelho family. During the 1930s Botelho's children, to whom he had transferred ownership of the property after deciding to follow a career in politics a few years earlier, began to build on the land. In 1938, hearing that they were having difficulty keeping up with the cost of maintaining the Jardim da Aclimação and planning to build on it, the Prefect of São Paulo Prestes Maia
Prestes Maia
The Prestes Maia, was the largest squatted highrise building on the South American continent. Originally, 468 families, united through the Downtown Roofless Movement of São Paulo, lived in the 22-storey highrise since 2002.The building had been closed and left in a rundown condition for years,...
offered to purchase the property from them.
On 16 January 1939, Botelho's heirs Antônio Carlos de Arruda Botelho, Constança Botelho de Macedo Costa and Carlos José Botelho Júnior formalised the sale of an area of 182 thousand square metres to the Prefecture of São Paulo, for the sum of 2,850 million réis. Paradoxically rather than signalling the rebirth of the Jardim da Aclimação, the purchase spelled out the definitive end for most of its attractions and the beginning of a long period of alternating neglect and revival for the green open space.
Initial construction and high-rise redevelopment
Even while the Jardim da Aclimação was still a flourishing attraction, a residential neighbourhood was starting to take shape around it. In 1900 the only roads and avenues in the area were the ones marking its boundaries, including the Rua Vergueiro, the Rua Lins de Vasconcelos and the Rua Tamandaré. By 1905 the Rua Pires da Mota, Rua Cururipe, Rua Espírito Santo, Rua José Getúlio, Rua Baturité and the first section of the present-day Avenida da Aclimação had been laid out. In 1914, the Rua Machado de Assis and part of the Rua Paula Ney and the Rua José do Patrocínio had appeared on the map.Nevertheless between these roads built on the steepest part of the property, known as the Morro da Aclimação, originally belonging to the family of Francisco Justino da Silva, and the Rua Lins de Vasconcelos, the Avenida da Aclimação and the Jardim da Aclimação all that existed was an almost rural landscape dominated by scrubland, streams, fields and farm buildings.
In 1916, again reflecting the irregular contours of the area a series of roads were built in a semicircular arc off the Avenida da Aclimação and converging on the Largo Rodrigues Alves, the present Praça General Polidoro. These were all named after precious stones - Turmalina, Topázio, Diamante, Ágata, Safira, Esmeralda, Rubi, etc. Higher up, in the direction of the Rua Nilo, the street names took their inspiration from the planets of the solar system: Júpiter, Urano, Saturno. It was not until 1928 that the maps show an increasing number of buildings appearing on the Morro da Aclimação between the Rua Jurubatuba (now Avenida Armando Ferrentini) and the Vila Mariana cemetery.
A middle-class residential neighbourhood sprang up, dominated by single and multi-story houses occupied by Italians, Japanese, Portuguese and natives of the city of São Paulo itself. The administrative Subdistrict of Aclimação was created in 1938 but was abolished in 1986 when the municipality of São Paulo was reorganised into 96 Districts. However there is still a Civil Registry for the Subdistrict of Aclimação, established by the legal authorities at State level.
From the 1970s onwards the onward march of construction led to increasing numbers of new buildings, as the neighbourhood became more and more dominated by high-rise construction. The increase in population was followed by the establishment of banks, schools, shops, estate agents and other services attending to the needs of the local population. Along the major roads like the Avenida da Aclimação, very few private homes have managed to survive the onslaught of the property developers.
Aclimação today
Because of its location the neighbourhood has become increasingly popular with estate agents catering to the upper middle class and has become increasingly sought-after. The "property boom" has put pressure on transport facilities and resulted in the disappearance of the features that gave the neighbourhood its former character including the semi-detached houses and the old multi-storey homes. The area has also undergone a socio-economic transformation, from a middle-class to an upper middle-class neighbourhood , as it has become an increasingly sought-after place to liveAclimação is a stronghold of São Paulo's South Korean community. The Praça General Polidoro square is surrounded by Korean restaurants, churches and other businesses. According to local real estate surveys 30% of the area's resident population are Korean or of Korean origin. One possible explanation is the presence of Presbyterian churches nearby as most of the Koreans are Protestant Christians.