MagazineParcRoyal

On July 9, 1943, at around 8:30 p.m., a massive fire engulfed the imposing Magazine Parc Royal building, in Largo São Francisco de Paula, completely destroying what had been the headquarters of one of Rio de Janeiro's first department stores.

Image description: The image is a black-and-white photograph of a fire at a building called "Parc Royal." The scene shows debris and smoke spread across the left side, while the main building, with classical architecture, remains partially intact on the right. In the lower right corner, there is text in Portuguese mentioning the Parc Royal fire.

Opened as a small haberdashery in 1873 by Francisco Fernandes da Silva Vianna, by 1889 the Parc Royal already occupied 4 buildings on Largo São Francisco de Paula, between Rua dos Andradas and Beco do Rosário. After different partnerships managed the business, in 1911 Vasco Ortigão & Cia took over ownership. That was the moment of the Magazine's greatest expansion, as it opened its new headquarters on the lot adjoining the Igreja de São Francisco de Paula and came to occupy the entire block of what is now Rua Ramalho Ortigão -- formerly Travessa São Francisco de Paula.

Image description: This is an old photograph of a hat shop. The image is in black and white, showing several people inside a commercial setting. On the left side, there is a woman with her back turned, holding a hat. In the center, two women are interacting with a customer, who has his back to the camera. On the right, a man is looking at a piece of paper. In the background, there is a large display case with several hats on show. At the top of the image, there is a hanging lamp.

With novelties imported directly from Paris, the store brought together clothing items for men and women, footwear, home goods, and a toy section - a novelty for the time, since the world of children was not commonly associated with consumption. Another widely advertised novelty was the fixed-price policy practiced by Parc Royal, unlike the other stores in Rio, which used to price merchandise according to the customer's appearance.

In addition to its headquarters at Largo São Francisco and a branch on Av. Central, opened in 1906, Parc Royal had branches in Juiz de Fora and Belo Horizonte (MG) and an office in Paris, responsible for purchasing and shipping goods to Brazilian customers. But all the stores stopped operating after the fire, reported by the press of the time as the largest and most tragic the city had seen until then. The tragedy caused the death of five firefighters who were fighting to put out the flames, which spread quickly and reached the facades of Casa Cruz e Mattos and a nearby confectionery. In addition, many of the church's stained-glass windows shattered from the heat of the fire.

Image description: This is a color photograph of a lively street, likely from the early twentieth century. On the left, there is a shop with window displays showing women's clothing. In front of the shop, two women walk together, elegantly dressed in hats and long skirts. On the right, a man walks toward the shop. In the background, there is another building with a classical facade. The signs on the shop contain text in Portuguese, mentioning "Parc Royal" and "Secção da Avenida."

In 1943, the store's owners were José Leite Cerqueira and José Ferreira Barcelos. The latter was caught in the act and charged as the perpetrator of the fire that ended the activities of the Magazine, which, for 70 years, had dictated fashion among women, men, and children in the cities where it had established itself.

References:

GORBERG, Marissa. Parc Royal: a magazine store in Carioca modernity. Master's thesis - Centro de Pesquisa e Documentação de História Contemporânea do Brasil, Graduate Program in History, Politics and Cultural Assets. Rio de Janeiro, Fundação Getúlio Vargas, 2013.