The cardboard on the ground hides almost a hundred years of history and an important part of the railway development of the state of São Paulo. Beneath the dusty, paint-stained protection lie impeccably restored clubs.
The floor is part of a future showroom and cafe located near the train stop of Júlio Prestes station, in the central region of the capital of São Paulo, currently undergoing final restoration.
Costing approximately 30 million reais, the works are in the final stages of completion.
In detail, the restoration of the station, where 5,000 people pass through per day, should be completed in the first quarter of 2026. Only the parquet floor of the future café, a place used in the 1950s as a waiting room for second-class passengers, required seven layers of restoration.
Designed by architect Christiano Stockler das Neves and built by Estrada de Ferro Sorocabana over 13 years — between 1925 and 1938, but inaugurated in 1930, according to information from Condephaat (Council for the Defense of Historical, Archaeological, Artistic and Tourist Heritage) and Iphan (Institute of National Historical and Artistic Heritage) — the work required authorization from the three spheres of heritage preservation to be touched.
Iphan, for example, required that the painting of the entrance hall retain the marks of the putty used to cover the cracks in the past, imitating (imitating the original) in the painted painting – it is worth taking a few seconds and appreciating what the ceiling looked like there.
The tones used in the painting are the same as those used during the inauguration, explains Camila Mendonça Rabassa, head of civil engineering and quality at Motiva, a company that includes ViaMobilidade, the concessionaire responsible for the station and the 8 Diamond line, which makes its initial and final stop there before passing through the turnstiles.
“For the paints, mineral paints composed of silicates were used, which are more durable and suitable for the conservation of historic environments, like those used originally,” informs ViaMobilidade.
The “orange blossom” color was chosen to harmonize the internal areas, while shades of pink will be applied to specific points.
“The (future) coffee room surprised us, because it had nothing to do with the original. The colors we found were a surprise,” says the engineer.
The moldings on the walls and the mark of a “reappeared” door attract attention. The room, which was not accessible to the public, was used as a sort of storage room.
Climbers used trowels to remove up to six layers of paint until they reached the first. “The challenge was to find paints with the same tones as the originals,” explains the engineer.
A specialist restoration company was hired for the renovation, which began with mapping the project which took two years to be approved by preservation agencies.
There is also structural and accessibility work. In one of them, by adapting a ramp, workers discovered an iron train stop once used at the end of tracks that no longer exist. The archaeological discovery remains in place, but will now be exhibited.
The renovation started with the roof. Polycarbonate sheets were placed on the translucent roof to encourage natural lighting, as in the original project, which increased clarity for those getting off or waiting for the train on the platforms.
The pilasters and metal structures inside have regained their reddish color: they had been painted gray.
In order not to interrupt train traffic on line 8, structural work had to be carried out in the early morning. In total, the restoration involved more than a hundred people, including eight climbers.
The clocks, dating from 1972, were recovered: when the journalist visited the site on December 2, only one still did not indicate the time, but was ready to be lit.
There are details imperceptible to the eyes of passengers. Where the hand reaches, acrylic was placed in place of the broken glass, held at the highest points.
The non-standard doors were replaced by others with dimensions from the time of the inauguration.
The dilapidated appearance of the facade was restored with anti-graffiti varnish. “We noticed that people were starting to take more selfies, it became a tourist spot again,” says Camila.
The saleswoman Maria Júlia Denis, 48, residing in Campinas, entered Júlio Prestes out of curiosity. She was visiting nearby historical sites with a friend – they had already passed by the nearby Luz train station and Sala São Paulo and stopped in front of the wooden ticket booths, where they took photos with their cell phones.
“Before, things were indeed more beautiful,” he says, amid the noise of millstones and water jets mixed with the noise of the train on the tracks.
About The Author
