A sobrado is a type of house style building from the Portuguese colonial era, typical in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and other former Portuguese colonies. It is a form equivalent to the Anglo-American

townhouse A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type of city residence ...

, particularly the creole townhouse in

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. Featuring typically two floors with a

balcony A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony ...

, the sobrados were the residences of the urban notable people, notably in the former capital of Brazil, Salvador. They are also found in Cape Verde, particularly in São Filipe on the Fogo island, and in

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

, in

Luanda Luanda () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major Angola#Economy, industrial, Angola#Culture, cultural and Angola#Demographics, urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atl ...

. A sobrado typically consists of two or more floors and a relatively large built area. During the colonial period in Brazil these houses served as residences for slave owners in cities, marking a sluggish beginning for

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly t ...

in Brazil. In the previous period, an antagonism existed between the casa-grandes and the slave quarters, where the houseowners were contrasted with the housekeepers who belonged to the poorer strata of society. The expression arose naturally from the houses built in the cities of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

(especially during the Gold Cycle), usually characterized by a topography typically called mar de morros (Portuguese: "sea of hills"): the constructions were carried out from the highest level of the street, so that there was "a space" under the main floor of the building. Over time, this lower level came to be considered the ground floor, characterizing these "maisonettes". Nowadays, this name for a house may be given to any such residence with more than one floor, and may even be applied to commercial establishments.

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{{Commonscat, Sobrados
Casa-grande & Sobrados
Housing Architecture in Portugal Portuguese colonial architecture in Brazil Architecture in Cape Verde House styles

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