Portofino Santa Cecília

History

The building at number 329 belongs to the generation before open municipal records, and what remains of it is the city’s own register. The Prefeitura’s tax register lists the lot as a condominium in sector 020, block 080; the municipal aerial survey already showed the tower standing in 2007; and the building does not appear in the series of building permits published by the Prefeitura from 2002 onward — which places it, comfortably, before that series began. The development, construction and the architectural design authorship are not publicly documented, and the delivery year could not be confirmed by two independent sources; for that reason none of it is attributed here.

What is distinctive about this address is a matter of naming confusion, and it is a documented one. The Post Office reserves an exclusive postcode for number 329 under the spelling “Edifício Ponto Fino”; the whole market — agencies, listings, adverts — calls it Portofino. On this street and the neighbouring ones, the postal register regularly distorts names, and that is why the house adopted the market spelling and kept the postal one as a variant. The number, here, counts for more than the name: the immediate neighbour, at 334, is a different building, and taller.

• Concept: one apartment per floor across twenty-three storeys, on a block in Santa Cecíliai where almost every other building has two or more doors per slab.
• Curiosities: the Prefeitura measures 79.12 m in height for twenty-three storeys — almost three and a half metres per floor on the raw count, a ceiling-height allowance that residential construction has stopped practising. The Census address register numbers the apartments from 1 to 23, one per storey, and records the twentieth floor as having no household.
• Not to be confused with: this is the Portofino on Rua São Vicente de Paulo, in Santa Cecíliai — the tower with no documented developer, one apartment per floor. There is a second building with the same market name, Portofino Vila Madalenai, on Rua Pascoal Vita, on the boundary between Vila Madalenai and Alto de Pinheirosi, built by Rossi Residencial: they are homonyms, with no relation to each other — separated by neighbourhood and by origin.

Architecture and aesthetics

A single, slender tower, set at the rear of the plot: the Prefeitura measures a 340.63 m² floor footprint on a 1,817 m² plot, with a 1,312.8 m² podium taking up almost three-quarters of the area and serving as the base for the development. The proportion tells the story of the design: the tower is narrow and tall, and the ground was given over to access, setbacks and common area. The interior layout closes the same way — with a single unit on a 340 m² slab, the lift opens into the family’s own hall and the plan occupies all four faces, with no shared wall or ventilation shaft between neighbours. The architectural design credit is not publicly documented and is therefore not attributed here.

Aesthetics and scarcity

Technical specifications

• Towers and units: 1 tower, 23 storeys, 1 apartment per floor. The 2022 Census address register lists twenty-three apartments, numbered 1 to 23, one per floor.
• Floor areas: units currently on the market range from 276 to 730 m². The plan advertised in the current listings has 350 m² with 4 bedrooms, 2 en suites and a balcony; the penthouse, 600 m², with 4 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms.
• Parking spaces: 4 in the 350 m² plan, with storage; 6 in the penthouse.
• Structural highlights: one apartment per floor with the whole slab belonging to a single family · single tower with a measured height of 79.12 m on a 1,817 m² plot · 1,312.8 m² podium footprint, with almost three-quarters of the plot outside the tower.
• Registry and parameters: 1 tower · 23 storeys · 23 units · 1 apartment per floor · 4 to 6 parking spaces · private areas of 276 to 730 m² · plot of 1,817 m² · floor footprint of 340.63 m² · podium of 1,312.8 m² · measured height of 79.12 m · tax lot sector 020, block 080, condominium 16 · registry jurisdiction 2º Registro de Imóveis de São Pauloi, Santa Cecília subdistrict · zoning ZEU (Law 16.402/2016).

Location and surroundings

Points of interest · distances in metres

Santa Cecília: the address

Rua São Vicente de Paulo runs down from Avenida Angélicai on the stretch where Santa Cecíliai and Higienópolisi stop being separate neighbourhoods and become the same fabric: flat, tree-lined blocks, sizeable residential buildings and no through traffic. It is a walkable address — Parque Buenos Airesi and FAAPi are within walking distance, the shops of Angélica and Higienópolis handle everyday life, and Pacaembui lies just beyond. Estação Santa Cecíliai and Estação Marechal Deodoroi give the red line, Estação Paulistai gives the yellow line, and Avenida Paulistai and Avenida Pacaembui take care of the car. It is one of the few central São Paulo addresses where you can still live without depending on a car.