Arte em ferro: um registro dos ornamentos na arquitetura residencial do Centro Histórico da cidade de João Pessoa

Abstract

Although iron has been known since antiquity, it became widespread as a building material in the 15th century, with the invention of the blast furnace in Great Britain. After the First Industrial Revolution, it stood out in the European context for its ability to provide resistance and translate progress and modernity. Although it had been used inexpressively since the colonial period, it was only in the 19th century that it gained prominence in Brazil and its use was linked to important urban transformations in the country's major centers. In Joao Pessoa, it appeared mainly as an element integrated into the city's residential architecture with the aim of enhancing and embellishing it, manifesting itself through ornaments in various architectural languages, such as neoclassicism, eclecticism, Art Nouveau, neocolonial and Art Deco. Considering the above, the aim of this work is to record and analyze, from a historical and formal point of view, the iron ornaments present in the residential architecture located in some areas of the current Historic Centre that were part of the process of urban expansion and transformation of Joao Pessoa, the former city of Parahyba, between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Using a qualitative and quantitative methodology, the research was carried out according to the following stages: i) a field survey carried out in the districts of Tambia, Centro, Trincheiras and Jaguaribe to identify and map the buildings with potential for study; ii) photographic recording of the chosen buildings and the iron ornaments they contain; iii) digital redesign using software to graphically represent the iron ornaments located on the façades and/ or plot boundaries; and iv) processing of the data obtained, in which the chosen buildings and their iron ornaments were systematized and analyzed. Taking into account the lack of studies on the subject, the work is justified by its contribution to research and preservation of the historical heritage of the capital of Paraiba, generating photographic records of the buildings studied and their iron ornaments, as well as their graphic memory with a view to its storage and dissemination to the academic community and society. The importance of the research is even greater as this heritage has been repeatedly mischaracterized, plundered and ruined, and is susceptible to complete disappearance in a short time. The results of the research attest to the significant presence of iron ornaments on the façades and/or plot boundaries of residential buildings located in the Historic Center of Joao Pessoa, within the protection perimeter of the Paraiba State Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute (IPHAEP). The iron ornaments of fifty properties were recorded. They have a wide variety of shapes and patterns, ranging from geometric to organic and mixed motifs, many of which are recurring.