Placed in core of Santos commercial center, Bolsa Oficial de Café not always occupied the building which became famous.
Created by federal decree, Bolsa started working in 1917 as a small partition in a building placed in XV de Novembro Street with Rua do Comercio.
When you see that pictures, you notice that building didn’t hold luxurious and grandiosity of the building we knew today, opened in 1922. Its rooms were very functional and they were a bit different from internal environment of an office of a commissioning or exporting company of that period.
Bolsa functions had already been developed in space where it was located: only own headquarters for its working was required. But, so, why so much opulence in building project?
Two hypothesis are practicable to understand history context of building of Palacio da Bolsa de Café, which somewhat they complete each other. One of hypotheses that Sao Paulo coffee elite had tried to establish as a nation builder with other states, like Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Bahia.
However, Sao Paulo was a new richness state. From second half of 19th century, when coffee started to be produced in Campinas and Itu regions, which started forming a bourgeoisie with aspiration for its history. To do so, Bandeirante was created as a ‘hero’, legitimizing Sao Paulo participation in building and consolidation of national territory.
Espaços para locação
Antigo Salão do Pregão, 1919. Fonte: São Paulo Moderno
Espaços para locação
Fachada da Bolsa Oficial de Café
