The change in the city's "status" to capital of the Portuguese Empire, starting in 1808, accentuated the need to make it more "European." The actions of the viceroys, in the previous century, served as the basis for this transformation movement that accelerated with the arrival of the Royal Family.
Image description: This is a historic engraving depicting a departure scene. The image is in grayscale tones, suggesting it is an old print. On the left side, we see a ship with people boarding. In the center, there is a crowd of people gathered near the sea, some in smaller boats. On the right, there are carriages and horses, with individuals in formal attire. In the background, we see buildings and a city in the distance. The sky is filled with clouds, lending a dramatic tone to the scene. At the bottom of the image, there is an inscription that reads: "Departure of His R.H. the Prince Regent of Portugal for the Brazil."Embarkation of the Portuguese royal family at the Belém dock on November 29, 1807. Painting by Nicolas-Louis-Albert Delerive
In order to meet the housing demand that arose in the city after the arrival of thousands of people all at once, along with the Royal Family, the Aposentadorias Law was created, which consisted of evicting or seizing the best residences to accommodate the nobles. The doors of the houses to be seized were marked with the letters "PR" - for Príncipe Regente (Prince Regent) - and people soon came up with their own interpretation: "Ponha-se na Rua" ("Put yourself out on the street").
To help implement the urban changes intended by D. João VI, the Intendência Geral de Polícia (General Police Intendancy) was created, which was placed in charge of various public administration tasks: increasing the number of urban dwellings; encouraging the landfilling of swamps and mangroves; promoting the construction of two-story houses over single-story ones. In addition, it was a priority to change colonial habits and values, in order to instill in the urban space an aesthetic and cultural uniformity that suggested the creation of a new city in contrast to the old one, with its narrow, unhealthy spaces of colonial standards.
Image description: This is an engraving showing a historical scene in "Nova Lisboa." On the left side, we see a building with several windows and doors, some with balconies. On the right, there is another similar building. In the center, a group of people is transporting large wooden barrels. They are walking toward the right, with some carrying the barrels on their backs and others pulling them from behind. The ground is made of stone, and the sky is clear. There is no legible text in the image.Pretos de Ganho - drawing by Henry Chamberlain and engraving by John Clark - 1821. In the background, two two-story buildings can be identified.
Regarding housing regulations, the first intendant general — Paulo Fernandes Viana — was responsible, among other changes, for standardizing houses, banning elements that represented the backwardness to be overcome by the new metropolis, such as the lattices and gelosias on windows — vestiges of the Arab presence. The negative perception of the lattices was made explicit by the writer
in “Memórias da Rua do Ouvidor” in 1878, which classified them as an "almost barbaric custom, of Moorish origin," lamenting that many colonial houses had “resisted the reform decreed by civilization”.
Image description: The image is a colored engraving depicting a Brazilian family in front of a building. On the left side, there is a man wearing a green outfit and a hat, holding a staff. He is in the foreground, with a child beside him. To his right, there is a woman dressed in white and red, followed by another woman with a white headscarf and a brown dress. Further to the right, there are two children and a Black man wearing traditional clothing. The building in the background has several windows and a light-colored facade. In the bottom right corner, there is a signature that appears to read "John Clarke."A Brazilian Family (Uma família brasileira) -- drawing by Henry Chamberlain and engraving by John Clark -- 1822.
The population growth of the early 19th century further stimulated expansion beyond Campo de Santana and Praça Tiradentes, transforming downtown into a commercial area and giving rise to "Cidade Nova" from the landfilling of the São Diogo mangrove swamp. To encourage the occupation of the area, new property owners were exempted from the Décima Urbana - a tax paid to the Royal Treasury by owners of habitable buildings within the urban perimeter.
Building and living habits changed, especially in the mid-19th century, as living and working in the same building – common during the colonial period – ceased to be the practice of wealthier merchants, who began to live in Glória, Catete, Botafogo, Catumbi, or São Cristóvão.
Sanitary conditions began to be a concern for the authorities, who sought to fill in swamps and marshes in order to ease the humidity in the air. According to the beliefs of the time, intense heat and humidity created an environment conducive to the development of "miasmas and dangerous fevers," which ended up resulting in epidemics. Cemeteries, considered sources of contamination, were moved to distant locations, changing the usual practice, up until then, of burying nobles, wealthy individuals, and members of brotherhoods inside churches.
