Vila Leopoldina is a district in the

subprefecture of Lapa The Subprefecture of Lapa is one of 32 subprefectures of the city of São Paulo, Brazil. It comprises six districts: Lapa, Barra Funda, Perdizes, Vila Leopoldina, Jaguaré, and Jaguara. In the north area of Lapa, which comprises the ''ba ...

in the city of

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

History

It originated as an extension of the

Lapa Lapa may refer to: People * Bruno Lapa (born 1997), a Brazilian football player * Fernanda Lapa (1943–2020), a Portuguese actress * Serhiy Lapa (born 1992), a Ukrainian football player Places * Lapa, Paraná, a town near Curitiba, in the sta ...

district and initially had characteristics of a working-class region. Initially, it was known as Emboaçava, in reference to a farm of the same name that existed in the region, and later as Várzea das Correias, in reference to the owner of the farm, João Correia da Silva. In 1894, a company acquired the farms there and began to divide up the large plot of land with thousands of square meters, beginning the subdivision of the district. One of the company's partners, Dona Leopoldina Kleeberg, was responsible for naming the district as it is known today. At the time, the main means of getting to the region were by train, tram and steamboat. The region received significant investment from the

São Paulo Railway SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Serb Autonomous Regions (''Srpska autonomna oblast'', SAO), during the breakup of ...

, which helped to build tram and electricity lines in the surrounding area. As a result, several industries began to establish themselves in the district. In the 1960s, the development of the region was boosted with the opening of the Lapa Market and the Ceasa (currently Ceagesp). It has now become a well-established area of

apartments An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement (Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that ...

for upper-middle-class residents, in addition to attracting advertising agencies, content producers, and photography and film studios. The district is served by metropolitan trains via lines 8–Diamante at Imperatriz Leopoldina Station and 9–Esmeralda at Ceasa Station. As an attraction, the district is home to the Professor Dimas de Melo Pimenta Clock Museum, which houses more than 600 clocks of various models and from all over the world. This district is also home to the Lapa Cemetery, opened in 1918 to house many people who died from the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The earliest docum ...

. Vila Leopoldina hosted the first edition of the MITA Festival in 2022, held at the Spark Arena, set up inside the ARCA. The event featured attractions such as

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Marcelo D2 Marcelo Maldonado Peixoto (born November 5, 1967), also known as Marcelo D2, is a Brazilian rapper, singer and songwriter, co-founder of Planet Hemp. Biography A former vocalist of the band Planet Hemp, he started his solo career in 1998 ...

Two Door Cinema Club Two Door Cinema Club are a British rock band formed in Bangor, County Down, Bangor, Northern Ireland in 2007. The band is composed of three members: Alex Trimble (vocals, rhythm guitar, beats, synths), Sam Halliday (lead guitar, backing vocals), ...

and headliners

Gorillaz Gorillaz are an English virtual band created by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett in London, England in 1998. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (gui ...

and Rüfüs du Sol. An urban operation coordinated by the City of São Paulo is promoting a process of verticalization and densification of the district, originally occupied by industrial

warehouses A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities, to ...

, with the aim of occupying the region and reducing urban degradation. The district has experienced an accelerated process of real estate expansion, with the construction of new and modern apartment

buildings A building or edifice is an enclosed structure with a roof, walls and windows, usually standing permanently in one place, such as a house or factory. Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, and have been adapted throughout ...

. As a result of this process, the region around Rua Carlos Weber has been called the " Nova Moema", a region that underwent a similar process in the

1970s File:1970s decade montage.jpg, Clockwise from top left: U.S. President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office following the Watergate scandal in 1974; The United States was still involved in the Vietnam War ...

References

Districts of São Paulo {{MesoregionSãoPaulo-geo-stub