CASA DE CULTURA HELOÍSA ALBERTO TORRES
Casa de Cultura Heloísa Alberto Torres
A mansion was built between 1810 and 1815, in main churchyard (as the current Marechal Floriano Peixoto square was called), in Itaboraí – Rio de Janeiro (RJ) - Brazil, on the initiative of the Portuguese businessman Caetano José Moraes. From 1825 onwards, it began to be used as a home for wealthy families from the region (Azeredo Coutinho, Antunes de Macedo and Marques Rosa).
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In 1940, the mansion was converted into a tax collection agency headed by Mr. Pedro Marques Rosa.
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A few years later, the same house was acquired by Antônio Colcheiro (mattress maker), where he began to make and sell grass mattresses.
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In the 1950s, the house was rented out to various businesses, such as a school, a cobbler's workshop and a funeral parlor
With the intention of creating a memory center to preserve their father Alberto Torres' legacy in his homeland (Itaboraí – RJ – Brazil), Heloísa and Maria Alberto Torres bought the mansion in 1963.
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They carried out renovations, bringing various improvements to the building, where the sisters lived out their last years.
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When Heloísa died, in 1977, Maria donated the mansion to IPHAN (the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute) so that, after her death in 1985, it would become a memorial center to her father. In 1985, IPHAN became the owner of the townhouse.
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The Cultural Activities Foundation was created in 1988 by Itaboraí City Hall and the following year it established its headquarters in the sobrado, inaugurating the Casa de Cultura Heloísa Alberto Torres.
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The Casa de Cultura Heloísa Alberto Torres had to undergo renovations before opening to the public in 1990, thus fulfilling the wishes of sisters Heloísa and Maria Alberto Torres.
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Today, in addition to preserving the memory of the illustrious Itaboraian Alberto Torres and his daughters, the Casa de Cultura promotes cultural activities such as art exhibitions, workshops, theater performances, concerts, saraus, serenades, film screenings, educational activities, guided tours and more, it has become an important cultural center in Itaboraí, a gift that the Alberto Torres sisters left to the city.​
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