Eighty duplexes by the Roberto brothers, garden by Burle Marx.
About the building
Edifício Júlio de Barros Barreto in brief.
Júlio de Barros Barreto is the residential landmark of the MMM Roberto office — the brothers Marcelo, Milton and Maurício Roberto, the team behind the ABI building and the original Santos Dumont airport terminal. Eighty apartments, every one a duplex, on Rua Fernando Ferrari above the Botafogo cove. The garden is by Roberto Burle Marx.
The plan is unusual and it works: living floors and sleeping floors stack as duplex pairs, with intermediate service levels so deliveries and staff reach each unit without crossing the social circulation. Elevators and stairs sit in a separate blue tower, connected to the residential slabs at two points — the building reads as a Y from above. The city listed it as municipal heritage in 2002.
AddressRua Fernando Ferrari 61, Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro — 22231-040
Distance to
What's around it.
Walk and drive times to the things that decide where you live in Rio — beach,
metro, airports, neighborhood anchors.
Praia de Botafogo (Aterro)6 min walk
Metrô Flamengo (L1)10 min walk
Santos Dumont Airport13 min by car
Galeão (GIG) International28 min by car
Botafogo Praia Shopping8 min walk
Mirante do Pasmado6 min by car
On the map
Edifício Júlio de Barros Barreto located.
Rua Fernando Ferrari 61, Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro — 22231-040
Designed in 1947 and delivered in 1953, when the Roberto brothers were the busiest modernist office in Rio. The project was studied around sun angles, prevailing winds and rainfall before a line was drawn — the brothers' stated goal was a building that never needed air conditioning, and residents still cite mild internal temperatures through Rio summers.
Thomas Ender - View of Botafogo's Cove, c.1817 · Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Burle Marx designed the grounds, one of his earlier residential garden commissions in the Zona Sul. The combination — duplex section, separated service circulation, free-standing circulation tower, landscape by Burle Marx — put the building into the standard histories of Brazilian modern architecture.
Bairros do Flamengo e de Botafogo, Enseada de Botafogo e o Morro do Pão de Açucar · Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Municipal heritage listing came in 2002. Units trade with a specific buyer profile: architects, academics and buyers who want a documented modernist address at Botafogo prices rather than beachfront ones.
Bonde elétrico na Praia de Botafogo · Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Long-term rent
What a unit leases for.
Reformed duplexes lease fast — Botafogo's office and hospital corridor keeps year-round long-term demand, and the building's name carries weight with design-literate tenants.
Where named individuals declined attribution, we describe the owner profile.
No address-level identification of current residents.
Architecture and academic circle
The building is a fixture of Rio architecture tours and publications; a visible share of owners are architects and university faculty who bought specifically for the MMM Roberto pedigree.
Available now
No active units. For the moment.
We currently have no listings inside Edifício Júlio de Barros Barreto. Inventory in this
building moves rarely and often off-portal. Tell us you're watching it —
we'll come to you the moment a unit becomes available.
We work Botafogo block by block. Most of what we close inside
buildings like this never reaches a portal — send us your brief and we'll come back
with what's actually available.
