Villa Matarazzo on avenida Paulista and Tomaso Buzzi: design and works (1938-1940)

Abstract

The demolition of the Matarazzo mansion on Avenida Paulista is an example of a lack of awareness and coordination of cultural heritage preservation mechanisms, to a certain extent attributable to insufficient research on buildings of a great architectural worth. In a metropolis like São Paulo that is so rich in 20th century architectural gestures and symbols, this question could appear to be of minor importance. Nevertheless, and despite the everyday loss of architectural objects of great cultural value, it is important to gain better familiarity with them in order to avoid the complete disappearance of their memory after their physical destruction. This article discusses the design process of the mansion renovation between 1938 and 1940, which gave us the image of the building that lasted until its demolition. The study puts this architectural work into context and removes any doubt about Tomaso Buzzi’s authorship of this project. Buzzi is an architect who has only recently become the focus of intense study in Italy and hopefully will be better known in Brazil.