At 54 meters high and 13 floors, the
Sampaio Moreira Building , designed in 1924 by architects Christiano Stockler and Samuel das Neves, was the
first skyscraper in the city of São Paulo, holding the title of tallest until the construction of the Martinelli Building in 1929. Between 2010 and 2012, the building underwent a restoration process signed by the
Kruchin Arquitetura office, and currently houses the Municipal Secretariat of Culture.
The restoration work restructured the building's internal logic by
creating new circulation axes through a volume of
metal walkways inserted in the void between blocks and also by freeing up large work spaces without changing the original design of the environments. The old elevators were updated and a new auditorium-square was created to connect the environments. The
metal plates that make up the ceiling of the new infrastructures are highlights within the complex.
The new square has a total area of 400 m² and has a covered area for cultural purposes , such as pocket shows , seminars and book launches. Visitors will be able to access it through the neighboring building, which was expropriated and had its façade restored to serve as the entrance to the new square. On the ground floor, there is still Casa Godinho , a grocery store and intangible heritage of the city that is older than the building itself.