Marechal Hermes and the (un) known origins of the social housings in Brazil: the paradox of the unseen showcase.

Abstract

The State intervention related to housing issues began in the thirty years prior to the World War I. First, in Europe, and soon in South America, the failure of liberal solutions forced the State do adopt interventionist measures such as rent regulation and, specially, the building of popular houses. However, according to the traditional approach in Brazil, it was only after 1930, by Getúlio Vargas’ government, that the State began to directly intervene by building housing estates. This solution had been strongly refused by the Old Republic’s liberal regimen. This research reviews this paradigm; analyses its origins and persistence by recognizing the construction of proletarian villages in Rio de Janeiro by Marechal Hermes da Fonseca’s government (1910-1914); and suggests the largest of such villages – which is considered here as an unseen showcase – to be put under government trust for being a historical landmark of the social housing in Brazil.