The small yellow facade, at number 124 Rua dos Inválidos, in the Center, hides a piece of Rio’s history. Anyone who passes through the iron gate comes across a scene that seems to have come out of the novel “O Cortiço”, by Aluísio Azevedo: 69 small rooms separated by wattle and daub walls. On the other side of the central corridor, 20 bathrooms and 36 kitchens, all communal. It is Chora Vinagre, an architectural complex that still retains characteristics of its origins, at the end of the 19th century. The paving at the entrance, with pebbles in the pedo-moleque style, is the same as the period in which it was built.
The history of the place and its residents was recently portrayed in the play “69 rooms”, which had its last performance last Sunday in the tenement itself, after a season at Teatro Ipanema, in the South Zone. The production by the group Teatro ao Redor, which is interested special for the Center of Rio and the genre of documentary piece, plans to return with the show and the performances in the tenement.
The precise date of construction has been lost. Architect and historian Nireu Cavalcante gives a clue:
— As for the tenements on Rua dos Inválidos, there were two large ones in 1879: number 48, with 68 rooms, belonging to Luiza Xavier, and number 60, with 70 rooms, owned by Balbina Augusta. The numbering of the streets in the Center has changed, and I can’t be sure which one is Chora Vinagre — he says, drawing attention to the fact that both had a number of rooms close to what has stood the test of time.
What is certain is that the building that is still standing followed the various transformations in the region, having survived successive urban reform policies, with a hygienist concept, adopted from 1854 onwards. At the time, according to Nireu, there were more than a thousand tenements and houses of rooms in the city.
Set is listed
A 2018 survey, by the Institute of Urban and Regional Research and Planning, at UFRJ, pointed to the existence of 54 of them in the Port Region and in part of the Center. A new mapping, this most recent, identified 69 occupations in the central region, which house 2,435 families, without specifying how many are tenements.
Chora Vinagre is listed by municipal decree 6,932, of 1987, which includes other local assets, such as the Church of Santo Antônio dos Pobres, the Hospital da Cruz Vermelha, the Clube Demáculos and the facade and the original part of the building of the Hospital da Venerável Third Order of Carmel. The entrance to the tenement is squeezed between two mansions: one is occupied by a cafe and the other by Casa das Pretas — where councilor Marielle Franco fulfilled her last political commitment before being murdered in March 2018.
Initially used as a market for enslaved people, Chora Vinagre became an inn and, in the early years of the 20th century, only Portuguese were allowed to live there. Currently, the profile is that of a residential village, with many elderly people, some families and young people who want to stay close to where they study or work. On special occasions, such as Carnival, rooms are offered on apps like Airbnb and Booking.com. The rooms are 12m² and rent for around R$600, with the majority of older residents paying less than R$400.
Édia Pinto, 92 years old, has been in the condominium for the longest time: she arrived in 1957. The resident recorded a video statement for the play, in which she says that she was the first Brazilian admitted to the place, where she arrived accompanied by her mother and son . Her granddaughter, Priscila Araújo Ferreira, 44, is the mother of a 12-year-old girl, who, she says, is the representative of the fifth generation of the family at Chora Vinagre.
— My great-grandmother was the first. I like here. I’ve gotten used to it. My childhood was spent running around this village. We are in the center and close to everything — says Priscila, in the small room furnished with a wardrobe, bunk bed, TV and refrigerator.
There are two versions of the name of the tenement. The most recurrent is that the enslaved people who lived there were punished with lashes, and their wounds were wet with vinegar, which made them cry. Another is that there was a vinegar factory nearby, and the strong smell brought tears to the eyes of the residents.
The tenement has an illustrious resident, the samba singer Genaro Valfrido Bispo, 91 years old, Genaro da Bahia. Composer and singer from Mangueirense, he is one of the authors of “Lendas do Abaeté”, which gave the school the championship in 1973:
— It’s the best place to live. Nobody bothers. You can leave the door open and the neighbor will take care of it.
Candy and sweets seller, Vera Lúcia Messias, 75 years old, 13 of them at Chora Vinagre, says she moved there after facing a knee problem and having to leave the apartment she occupied on Rua Riachuelo.
— It was supposed to be temporary, but I stayed — said the resident, inspiration for the character who opens the play, and who is proud to have received a standing ovation when she went to watch the premiere at the theater. — I never imagined that one day this would happen.
At the moment, half of the rooms at Chora Vinagre are empty, with at least five not in usable condition because they need work. By the way: “O Cortiço”, from 1890, a literary classic by Aluísio Azevedo, was set in the neighborhood of Botafogo, in the South Zone of the city.
