Avenida Paulista
Encyclopedia
Paulista Avenue is one of the most important avenues in São Paulo, Brazil
. The 2.8 kilometre thoroughfare is notable for headquartering a large number of financial and cultural institutions, as well as being home to an extensive shopping area and to Latin America's most comprehensive fine-art museum, MASP. Since the 1960s, the avenue has been identified as one of the main business centers in the city. Being one of the highest points in São Paulo, it is distinctively clustered with radio and TV stations antennae
, such as Gazeta's. The road is served by a subway line and many major bus routes. The avenue, which was inaugurated in December 1891, is generally regarded as the most expensive real estate anywhere in Latin America
.
Paulista is home to a small native forest park, the Parque Siqueira Campos, commonly called Trianon, and to the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo). MASP is known not only for its excellent collection of European and national paintings, sketches, and sculptures by Renoir, Picasso, Trasila do Amaral, and other Modernist Brazilian authors, but also for the remarkable modern architecture of its building, whose exhibition room is made of a single block of concrete and glass windows suspended and supported by two vertical concrete columns so the view of 9 de Julho Avenue and the Cantareira mountain range north of here is not spoiled. The empty space or vault covered by cobblestones is used by the Feira de Antiguidade—Antique fair—every Sunday, open movie projections and other cultural and political manifestations. Dedicated in 1968 by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
, MASP is a city landmark.
The avenue is home to some of the world's biggest financial institutions and a symbol of the economic power of State of São Paulo
, along with the newer Avenida Berrini, and Avenida Brigadeiro Faria Lima, further south from here.
It's estimated that more than 800 thousand Paulistas commute to Avenida Paulista daily. Traffic is often bumper-to-bumper, particularly because of the many bus lines that go across it to the West, South, North, and East sides of the city.
The São Paulo Gay Pride Parade in May/June, considered the largest in the world, and the Sao Silvestre Marathon on New Year's Eve take place on this avenue yearly. Celebrations of local soccer teams and world cup championships and Political demonstrations also have Paulista as a stage.
The avenue has an efficient subway system, with the Line 2 (Green Line)
of the Metrô (São Paulo's Metro
system) running underneath the avenue from one end to the other. This line, which is still relatively new and under construction, connects the East and West sides of the metropolis having transfers to the Line 1 (Blue Line)
, the Line 4 (Yellow Line)
, and a shuttle connects the West Side Vila Madalena
station north to the Palmeiras-Barra Funda
station on Line 3 (Red Line)
.
Paulista is often compared to Fifth Avenue in New York
, perhaps more because of its financial, cultural and commercial status, although it is more spacious, having two carriageways, with traffic going in opposite directions.
It goes across the sections of Paraíso, Bela Vista, Jardim Paulista, Cerqueira Cesar and Jardim America, ending in Higienopolis. Its major crossroads are Avenida Brigadeiro Luis Antonio, Rua Augusta, Haddock Lobo, and Rua da Consolação. Parallel to it are Cincinato Braga, Joaquim Eugenio de Lima on the Bela Vista/Paraíso side and Alameda Sanãtos and the fancy Coronel Oscar Freire
on the Jardins side. Oscar Freire
is said to be one of the most beautiful streets in the world, with expensive apartment buildings, luxurious clothing stores, restaurants and gourmet shops.
The area is also renowned for excellent private schools such as Maria Imaculada school for girls; the Anglican Saint Paul's school; Dante Alighieri private school, Alumni English Language Institute, São Luis University and School, Casa di Cultura Italiana, and Objetivo Prep School. The Rodrigues Alves public school, in front of Hospital Santa Catarina, is housed in a beautiful yellow neo-classic building.
Amongst the Paulista avenue cultural centers are Centro Cultural Itau near Casa das Rosas in Paraiso with frequent exhibitions, the Centro Cultural FIESP/CIESP, near the MASP subway station, which besides its exhibitions of arts and crafts, houses the famous Teatro Brasileiro de Comedia with free tickets distributed weekly. Some of the São Paulo's best hospitals such as Hospital Alemão Osvaldo Cruz, Paulistano, Clinicas, Emilio Ribas and Beneficencia Portuguesa are also in the area. Center Tres, Conjunto Nacional, Winston Churchil building, Gazeta and Shopping Paulista mall have coffee shops, internet facilities, restaurants, luncheonettes, shops and/or movie theaters.
Some of the remaining mansions and banks are annually decorated during the Christmas season, drawing crowds for picture taking. Despite having different shopping centers, eateries and cultural facilities that cater to the populations of each region of this sprawling state capital, São Paulo city takes pride in choosing Avenida Paulista as its most expressive symbol. It's the richest Latin American city.
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...
. The 2.8 kilometre thoroughfare is notable for headquartering a large number of financial and cultural institutions, as well as being home to an extensive shopping area and to Latin America's most comprehensive fine-art museum, MASP. Since the 1960s, the avenue has been identified as one of the main business centers in the city. Being one of the highest points in São Paulo, it is distinctively clustered with radio and TV stations antennae
Antenna (radio)
An antenna is an electrical device which converts electric currents into radio waves, and vice versa. It is usually used with a radio transmitter or radio receiver...
, such as Gazeta's. The road is served by a subway line and many major bus routes. The avenue, which was inaugurated in December 1891, is generally regarded as the most expensive real estate anywhere in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
.
Overview
Once a residential neighbourhood thoroughfare flanked by lavishly ornate mansions with Arabesque and European themes of the city's coffee barons and industry entrepreneurs such as the Matarazzo family, the avenue has undergone a massive verticalization from the 1950s on. Impressive Neo-Classic, Hindu-style and Middle Eastern architectonic structures were then illegally torn down overnight as a precaution against fiscalization or resistance from the population, basically students and artists, who would dare to promote protests during a military-ruled area. The only mansion worth visiting today is Casa das Rosas, near Praça Osvaldo Cruz in the very beginning of the long avenue. It was turned into a cultural center in the late 1980s. The house has oil/hydraulic heat radiators, a luxury only the millionaire could afford and something that could be of good use on very cold and damp nights and mornings of past São Paulo winters. A wide garden with rose specimens planted in the turn of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries still refreshes the senses of passersby of a polluted city that lacks recreational parks for all of its inhabitants.Paulista is home to a small native forest park, the Parque Siqueira Campos, commonly called Trianon, and to the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo). MASP is known not only for its excellent collection of European and national paintings, sketches, and sculptures by Renoir, Picasso, Trasila do Amaral, and other Modernist Brazilian authors, but also for the remarkable modern architecture of its building, whose exhibition room is made of a single block of concrete and glass windows suspended and supported by two vertical concrete columns so the view of 9 de Julho Avenue and the Cantareira mountain range north of here is not spoiled. The empty space or vault covered by cobblestones is used by the Feira de Antiguidade—Antique fair—every Sunday, open movie projections and other cultural and political manifestations. Dedicated in 1968 by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
, MASP is a city landmark.
The avenue is home to some of the world's biggest financial institutions and a symbol of the economic power of State of São Paulo
São Paulo (state)
São Paulo is a state in Brazil. It is the major industrial and economic powerhouse of the Brazilian economy. Named after Saint Paul, São Paulo has the largest population, industrial complex, and economic production in the country. It is the richest state in Brazil...
, along with the newer Avenida Berrini, and Avenida Brigadeiro Faria Lima, further south from here.
It's estimated that more than 800 thousand Paulistas commute to Avenida Paulista daily. Traffic is often bumper-to-bumper, particularly because of the many bus lines that go across it to the West, South, North, and East sides of the city.
The São Paulo Gay Pride Parade in May/June, considered the largest in the world, and the Sao Silvestre Marathon on New Year's Eve take place on this avenue yearly. Celebrations of local soccer teams and world cup championships and Political demonstrations also have Paulista as a stage.
The avenue has an efficient subway system, with the Line 2 (Green Line)
Line 2 (São Paulo Metro)
Line 2 is a line of the São Paulo Metro and currently runs between the Vila Madalena and Vila Prudente stations. The line is also called the Paulista Line, because it goes along much of the Avenida Paulista, one of the leading financial centers in São Paulo...
of the Metrô (São Paulo's Metro
São Paulo Metro
The São Paulo Metro is the principal rapid-transit system in the city of São Paulo and the largest in Brazil. It is also the second largest system in South America and the third largest in Latin America, behind Mexico City and Santiago....
system) running underneath the avenue from one end to the other. This line, which is still relatively new and under construction, connects the East and West sides of the metropolis having transfers to the Line 1 (Blue Line)
Line 1 (São Paulo Metro)
Line 1 - Blue was the first line built for the São Paulo Metro. It links Tucuruvi Station to Jabaquara Station. Construction began in the late 1960s and was completed in the early 1970s. It was also the first metro line built in Brazil.-History:...
, the Line 4 (Yellow Line)
Line 4 (São Paulo Metro)
Line 4 is a line of the São Paulo Metro, originally called Southeast-Southwest Line. When finalized, it will go from Luz to Vila Sônia. The first stretch, between and Faria Lima and Paulista stations, opened on May 25, 2010. Two other stations, Butantã and Pinheiros, took more time than expected...
, and a shuttle connects the West Side Vila Madalena
Vila Madalena (São Paulo Metro)
Vila Madalena is a station on Line 2 of the São Paulo Metro and is the current terminus.-SPTrans Lines:The following SPTrans bus lines can be accessed. Passengers may use a Bilhete Único card for transfer:-EMTU Lines:...
station north to the Palmeiras-Barra Funda
Palmeiras-Barra Funda (São Paulo Metro)
Palmeiras-Barra Funda ou just Barra Funda is a station on Line 3 of the São Paulo Metro and is the current terminus. The metro station is inside the Palmeiras-Barra Funda Intermodal Terminal, a major transit station in São Paulo. The complex contains municipal, intercity, and metropolitan bus...
station on Line 3 (Red Line)
Line 3 (São Paulo Metro)
Line 3 of the São Paulo Metro covers the stretch of the metro network between Palmeiras-Barra Funda and Corinthians-Itaquera. It was formerly called the East-West Line...
.
Paulista is often compared to Fifth Avenue in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, perhaps more because of its financial, cultural and commercial status, although it is more spacious, having two carriageways, with traffic going in opposite directions.
It goes across the sections of Paraíso, Bela Vista, Jardim Paulista, Cerqueira Cesar and Jardim America, ending in Higienopolis. Its major crossroads are Avenida Brigadeiro Luis Antonio, Rua Augusta, Haddock Lobo, and Rua da Consolação. Parallel to it are Cincinato Braga, Joaquim Eugenio de Lima on the Bela Vista/Paraíso side and Alameda Sanãtos and the fancy Coronel Oscar Freire
Rua Oscar Freire
Rua Oscar Freire is a tree-lined street stretching from Alameda Casa Branca to Avenida Doutor Arnaldo in the Jardins district of São Paulo. It was named after Oscar Freire de Carvalho, a physician and forensic medicine professor from Bahia, who helped develop the city's first morgue .According to...
on the Jardins side. Oscar Freire
Rua Oscar Freire
Rua Oscar Freire is a tree-lined street stretching from Alameda Casa Branca to Avenida Doutor Arnaldo in the Jardins district of São Paulo. It was named after Oscar Freire de Carvalho, a physician and forensic medicine professor from Bahia, who helped develop the city's first morgue .According to...
is said to be one of the most beautiful streets in the world, with expensive apartment buildings, luxurious clothing stores, restaurants and gourmet shops.
The area is also renowned for excellent private schools such as Maria Imaculada school for girls; the Anglican Saint Paul's school; Dante Alighieri private school, Alumni English Language Institute, São Luis University and School, Casa di Cultura Italiana, and Objetivo Prep School. The Rodrigues Alves public school, in front of Hospital Santa Catarina, is housed in a beautiful yellow neo-classic building.
Amongst the Paulista avenue cultural centers are Centro Cultural Itau near Casa das Rosas in Paraiso with frequent exhibitions, the Centro Cultural FIESP/CIESP, near the MASP subway station, which besides its exhibitions of arts and crafts, houses the famous Teatro Brasileiro de Comedia with free tickets distributed weekly. Some of the São Paulo's best hospitals such as Hospital Alemão Osvaldo Cruz, Paulistano, Clinicas, Emilio Ribas and Beneficencia Portuguesa are also in the area. Center Tres, Conjunto Nacional, Winston Churchil building, Gazeta and Shopping Paulista mall have coffee shops, internet facilities, restaurants, luncheonettes, shops and/or movie theaters.
Some of the remaining mansions and banks are annually decorated during the Christmas season, drawing crowds for picture taking. Despite having different shopping centers, eateries and cultural facilities that cater to the populations of each region of this sprawling state capital, São Paulo city takes pride in choosing Avenida Paulista as its most expressive symbol. It's the richest Latin American city.
See also
- Mexico CityMexico CityMexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
's Paseo de la ReformaPaseo de la ReformaPaseo de la Reforma is a wide avenue that runs in a straight line, cutting diagonally across Mexico City. It was designed by Ferdinand von Rosenzweig in the 1860s and modeled after the great boulevards of Europe, such as Vienna's Ringstrasse or the Champs-Élysées in Paris... - Champs-ÉlyséesChamps-ÉlyséesThe Avenue des Champs-Élysées is a prestigious avenue in Paris, France. With its cinemas, cafés, luxury specialty shops and clipped horse-chestnut trees, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées is one of the most famous streets and one of the most expensive strip of real estate in the world. The name is...
- KönigsalleeKönigsalleeThe Königsallee is an urban boulevard in Düsseldorf, state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The Königsallee is noted for both the landscaped canal that runs along its center, as well as for the fashion showrooms and luxury retail stores located along its sides.Nicknamed Kö by the...
- BroadwayBroadway (New York City)Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
- Fifth Avenue
- Edifício Grande AvenidaEdifício Grande AvenidaEdifício Grande Avenida or Grande Avenida Building is a building located at 1754 Avenida Paulista in São Paulo, Brazil. The building was founded in 1964. Characterized by one of the remarkable architectural styles in town, the building sustained two fires during its history. The first was minor and...
- Fundação Cásper LíberoFundação Cásper LíberoFundação Cásper Líbero is an Brazilian institution that is responsible for a wide communication complex, and is headed in São Paulo...
- São Paulo Museum of Art
- Downtown São Paulo
- Central business districtCentral business districtA central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...
- Rua Oscar FreireRua Oscar FreireRua Oscar Freire is a tree-lined street stretching from Alameda Casa Branca to Avenida Doutor Arnaldo in the Jardins district of São Paulo. It was named after Oscar Freire de Carvalho, a physician and forensic medicine professor from Bahia, who helped develop the city's first morgue .According to...