Baron of Guajará Solar

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One of the first buildings raised during colonial times around what is now Praça D. Pedro II, the Solar Barão de Guajará is one of the few civil buildings - those belonging to local nobility - still present in Belém's urban grid. Before it was donated by the City Hall (who had purchased it in the 1920s) to Pará'??s Historical and Geographical Institute, in 1944, it belonged to two noblemen from the Brazilian Empire, the Viscount of Arari and the Baron of Guajará.

We know that the current building was inherited by Ana Soeiroâ??s daughter, in 1837, attesting that it was constructed in the early 19th century. A few years later, probably in the middle of the century ? by then belonging to the Viscount of Arari ? the house received some improvements, such as the door-windows with iron railings holding his emblem. The tiles, from a later time, are some of the oldest ones to cover a façade in Belém. A twostory building, it is organized as a frontal block with an attic and a belvedere, and two lateral wings forming a patio with a second unit (parallel to the main façade) built in an undetermined date. This new unit was structurally and visually treated to promote its integration with the existing construction; it even received tiles, like all of its internal façades. Several authors, including Ernesto Cruz, state that the back of the building, now taken by this second wing, used to house a stable. There were no kitchens or bathrooms; these new uses were clearly improvised On the ground floor, one of the rooms is accessible by an independent entrance, which might indicate the existence of a store, or else, which is more likely due to the ownersâ?? political and social standing, a private chapel open to public visitation.