Few tenements survived the demolitions of Pereira Passos. This one here, on Rua Sacadura Cabral 295, is one of them. The house not only survived the “knock down”, but also time itself. Preserved and reformed by city hall in 1998, it functions today just like the tenements from the beginning of the century, with shared bathrooms and service areas.
There are 16 apartments on 3 floors. Each floor has two showers and two bathrooms, whose cleanliness is the responsibility of the residents.
In 2015, one of the residents was interviewed by the newspaper, O Dia. Pharmacist Elen Hanauer, 56 years old, tells how he moved into the tenement in 2001. “Living in a collective space is very complicated. Sometimes people don’t make themselves available to clean, or don’t want to share supplies. To avoid confusion, I end up doing everything myself,” he vents. Another resident, retiree José Braselino dos Reis, 65 years old, was the handyman who took care of the house’s maintenance. “I’m the one who splits up the water and light bills and puts it up on the chart for the residents. If someone is problematic or complains too much, we make a petition and get him out of here, but this doesn’t happen often,” he points out.