Alagoa Grande: Um registro do seu patrimônio arquitetônico

Abstract

This study focuses on the architectural heritage of the Historic Centre of Alagoa Grande, specifically the buildings situated in its initial site, surrounding the central square of the city. In order to contextualize the formal refinement of the buildings found in the area, this essay approaches the economic conditions that allowed the development of the city, specially the cotton and the railway; defines the architectural languages produced in Europe and in Southeast Brazil that were hosted on the historical site of Alagoa Grande and conceptualizes the heritage practices that apply to the place. Stressing a perimeter smaller than that proposed by IPHAEP, this work classifies the buildings inscribed therein according to three levels of preservation: those totally preserved; those modified, but susceptible to restoration interventions; and those much altered, without conditions of reconstitution. To better analyze the heritage, the site is studied according to four sections and seventeen subsections, where only the preserved buildings and the ones susceptible of restoration are registered through imagens and description of their architectural language. The study resulted in a general table that demonstrates the "state of the art" of the buildings of architectural value, which denounces the hegemony of eclectic architecture, followed by manifestations of neoclassicism and Art Deco. In terms of preservation, the table presents a situation where the number of properties preserved added to those susceptible to restoration is equivalent to approximately half of the total number of properties inscribed in the perimeter studied.