at a glance

following a stint under the direction of french magnate charles leblon, for whom the adjacent tract of land is named, the strip facing the ocean was sold to commander francisco josé fialho, who passed it on to his son josé antónio moreira filho, better known as the baron of ipanema (barão de ipanema).

in 1886 the baron inherited a dilapidated plantation that, at the time, was only accessible by boat or on foot - however, he took on colonel antónio josé da silva on as a business partner and began the construction of villa ipanema, which would consist of 19 streets and two plazas.

it was officially christened in 1894 with the inauguration of a streetcar line connecting ipanema to the rest of the city and a wave of german, french, italian, and jewish immigrants to populate it - though no longer technically isolated, ipanema remained a rather small residential outpost until the middle of the next century.