page_title: Viaduto do Chá
section_title: Original viaduct
hierarchical_section_title: Viaduto do Chá / Original viaduct
caption_attribution_description: English: Palacetes Prates e Vale do Anhangabaú
context_page_description: Viaduto do Chá is a viaduct of São Paulo, Brazil. It was the first viaduct built in the city, and was instigated by Jules Martin, a French immigrant to the city. The 240-metre span crosses the Vale do Anhangabaú. Originally conceived in 1877, construction started in 1888 before being stopped one month later by a court case brought by local residents. Construction resumed in 1889, and the iron bridge was completed in 1892. The original viaduct was replaced in 1938 with a new concrete span. It often appears in TV interviews, as well as films and telenovelas set in São Paulo.
context_section_description: The idea of building a viaduct came from Jules Martin, a French immigrant who was active in solving problems in the city, including installing the city's first gas engine, and drawing the first map of the province. He presented initial plans to connect Rua Direita to Rua Barão de Itapetininga with a viaduct in 1877. Expanded plans for a boulevard were detailed in 1882, but by 1885 the plans had reverted to the viaduct, and Martin signed a contract to construct it and to form a company to do so. Planning started on 30 April 1888.
  After one month the work on the viaduct stopped. Some of the residents were against the viaduct, including Francisco Xavier Pais de Barros, the Baron of Tatuí, and his wife, one of whose houses was slated for demolition to construct the viaduct. People in favour of the viaduct attacked his house with picks to force him to move. In May 1889 their court case was defeated, and the viaduct was constructed.
  Construction restarted in 1889, initially run by the company Companhia Paulista do Chá. Due to delays, the company ran out of funding and almost went bankrupt; the project was transferred to Companhia de Ferro Carril de São Paulo, which completed the construction.
  The 240-metre (790 ft)-long viaduct had a 180-metre (590 ft) structure made of iron imported from Germany, with a wooden floor. It was 14 metres (46 ft) wide, and carried pedestrians, horse-drawn trams, and other animal-drawn vehicles (but fixed-axle vehicles were banned). It was inaugurated on 6 November 1892. It was São Paulo's first viaduct, and was named after a nearby tea plantation called Morro do Chá.
  It was originally operated as a gated toll road in order to cover the construction expenses. The toll to cross the bridge was 60 réis, or three vinténs, per person, which led to the nickname for the viaduct of "Viaduto dos Três Vinténs" (Three Vinténs Viaduct). For trams the toll was 200 réis. The toll was removed in 1896 when the viaduct was expropriated by the city council.
  The bridge was strengthened and enlarged in 1902 when electric trams were introduced to the city, and the valley that it passed over was turned into a park in 1910. The Municipal Theatre was constructed nearby 1911 on the site of an earlier sawmill. In the 1920s cars started to cross the viaduct.
caption: The viaduct in the 1920s
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