The Edifício da Associação dos Empregados no Comércio da Bahia (in English: Bahia's Trade Employees' Association Building) or Palacete do Tira Chapéu (Tira Chapéu Palace) is a building inaugurated on December 30, 1917, designed to host the Trade Employees' Association (AECBA), located at the corner of Chile Street and Tira Chapéu Street, in

Salvador Salvador, meaning "salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to: * Salvador (name) Arts, entertainment, and media Music *Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music ** ''Salvador'' ( ...

, capital of the Brazilian state of

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

History

The history of the building is intrinsically linked with the history of the formation of

's economic

elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (, from , to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful or wealthy people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. Defined by the ...

. It was conceived and financed by

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

Bernardo Martins Catharino - the owner of the palace that bears his name - the Comendador Bernardo Martins Catharino Palace. Located on Rua do Tira Chapéu at a corner of Rua Chile, it was organized by

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

engineer and architect Alberto Borelli representing the Companhia de Serraria e Construções. Construction work on the building began in June 1916 and was completed at its inauguration on December 30, 1917, maintaining an architectural style focused on

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

. In 1918, a donation was made by Bernardo Martins Catharino and his wife Ursula da Costa Martins Catharino to the workers' association. The association headquarters was the stage for meetings and musical

spectacles Glasses, also known as eyeglasses (American English), spectacles (Commonwealth English), or colloquially as specs, are Visual perception, vision eyewear with clear or tinted lens (optics), lenses mounted in a frame that holds them in front ...

bringing together personalities from Bahia and the rest of the country. Besides its role as a

labor organization A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

, it was

philanthropic Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

through professionalizing and pioneering courses, such as the professional training of women. Until the early 2010s, the building continued to belong to the association, but only with the ground floor being used, while the upper floors were unoccupied. In 2018, the project to turn the Tira Chapéu Palace into a gastronomic center in Salvador's Historic Center was announced, with several restaurants installed in the building. Grupo Fera, from the

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

businessman Antônio Mazzafera, bought the building around 2015, within the expansion of the business in this area of the city, whose base is the Fera Palace Hotel, and, in this case, is undertaken by Fera Investimentos alongside the companies Rio Verde and Elo. The restoration project was commissioned by Danish architect Adam Kurdahl and is inspired by two

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

references: the

Market of San Miguel The Market of San Miguel ( Spanish: ''Mercado de San Miguel'') is a covered market located in Madrid, Spain. Originally built in 1916, it was purchased by private investors in 2003 who renovated the iron structure and reopened it in 2009. Overvie ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

and El Nacional in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. When announced in 2018, it was expected to be completed in 2020, however, in 2020 it was revised to 2022 due to the recovery and restoration process, as well as raising funding for the commercial facilities. The first phase of the restoration work was completed in 2023 and an exhibit was created to showcase the details and facts of the process.

Listing

The palace underwent the process of listing in 2011, assessed by the Bahia Institute of Artistic and Cultural Heritage (IPAC), the agency responsible for the preservation of

's memory, under the process of Decree No. 13.151/2011. According to the director of IPAC, Frederico Mendonça, the listing "is beneficial, because when it is officially recognized, the property starts to have priority in restoration funding lines, whether municipal, state, federal, or even international. In addition, the listing prohibits the recharacterization of the building."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tira Chapeu Palace Buildings and structures in Salvador, Bahia Palaces in Brazil

History

Listing

See also

References