| COLONIAL ARCHITECTURE |
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| The main characteristic of the Paraty architecture is its simplicity |
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| In the middle of the century XVII when the village of Paraty was beginning to be composed, the social elite were the farmers, owners of sugar mills. The best houses existed in the farms and not in the village. The first constructions in the village were in the most part made with wood and "sapę" ceiling. It was rare the constructions made with wattle and daub house and with
silt and just some of them were left.
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| The constructions of the century XVIII found today in the historical borough are simple constructions made of wattle and daub house and without aesthetical basis. The lintels (stone or wood piece that is put over the abutment or door-jamb) are made of plain lines. |
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| The two-storey houses built as of the second half of the century XVIII were so many times made over the existing ground houses, so that it was possible to recognize a mixture of styles as for example doors with plain lintels in the ground floor and windows with round lintels in the superior floor. |
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| With the elaboration of the "Registro de Posturas da Câmara Municipal da Villa Paraty" in 1829, the constructions passed to have a best standardization and aesthetical basis. The edge of the houses, for example, defined the social status of the owner; the ones with a dog format belonged to simple people; the "cimalha" edge belonged to the rich people, the "seveiras" edges were most used in the religious and military constructions. |
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| The "cimalha" edge and the tile made of porcelain shows that the house belonged to a rich person. |
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| Below there are some articles of the "Registro de Posturas da Câmara Municipal da Villa de Paraty" from 1829: |
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| Article 2: Wishing to construct or reconstruct . it shall be obliged to require to the inspector in order to make align by the "Arruador" ...following the best direction of the street |
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| Article 3: The constructions will be raised over pillars of stone and waterwash. The ground houses will have the height of eighteen inches (around four meters), the two-storey houses will have thirty five (around eight meters) including wood in one and another. The windows and doors will have five inches (one meter and ten centimeters) of width, and twelve and seven of height |
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| Article 5 - The new constructions will be reformed in the front and external part of the vias where its ends the ceiling height without "cimalha". |
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| Article 10 - The ones who owns land .. will be obliged to surround it with towed walls. |
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| Article 12 - In the limits of the Village is forbidden the houses with straw or "sapę" cover |
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| Curious details about the colonial architecture are the alcoves - windowless rooms, placed in the habitation centers, used as bedroom, kitchen store or chapel - that appeared with the necessity of using the spaces when the houses were contiguous. |
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| In the century XIX began the search for more privacy in the houses with the use of trusses - wood grid - in the windows and doors, allowed the ventilation and impeding the view inside the houses. The glass windows, in the guillotine style, arrived in Brazil along with Royal Family, in the beginning of the century XIX, but up to the end of this same century is still considered luxury article. |
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