IATE CLUBE DO RIO DE JANEIRO
333, PASTEUR AVENUE
We write today about the main wall of the Rio de Janeiro Yacht Club (Iate Clube do Rio de Janeiro)[1], located in the pleasant neighborhood of Urca.
Giant as the tradition of the club it protects, the wall was constructed between 1946 e 1947 and goes through a good portion of Pasteur Avenue, which communicates Urca with the Cove of Botafogo (Enseada de Botafogo). We have particular interest in the left part of the wall, starting from the main door to the left and going just until the next gas station near the cove`s entrance.
Built in the form of waves – 53 ups and downs, more precisely -, the wall is protected by the City Hall since 2016. In each of its elevations – with the exception of a few gaps -, lies a set made of 16 square tiles with their vertices facing up and surrounded by a blue mortar frame – always decorated with nautical or marine motifs. There are 48 tile sets, total.[2]
A misunderstood text led to the belief that the tiles were projected by the famous couple of artists Arpad Szenes and Maria Helena Vieira da Silva. The production, however, we owe to another couple, Anna Soares Mandecher and Adolfo Soares Mandecher, hence the signature A. Soares in many of them.[3]
There are anchors, caravels, Brazilian jangadas (rafts) and boat race scenes, besides sea horses, crustaceans and numerous species of fish – some of them imaginary, perhaps…
I registered all the sets, some in terrible conservation. 21 of them are shown below.
[1] The club was initially baptized Fluminense Yachting Club, as it was created in the headquarters of Fluminense Football Club, in March 25th, 1920, during the administration of Arnaldo Guinle.
[2] I went there and counted the number of sets, but if anyone would like to do same, to confirm the information, please be my guest.
[3] I thank my friend Angelica Galetti for such a precious information.