Edifício Urca.
Bayfront Urca, at the base of Pão de Açúcar.
Urca · Rio de Janeiro
About the building
Edifício Urca in brief.
Edifício Urca sits on Avenida Portugal 986 — the bayfront avenue that runs along the base of Pão de Açúcar, with Guanabara Bay on one side and the granite face of the mountain on the other. Built in 1954, it's one of the recognized residential addresses in a neighborhood Rio designates as a heritage-protected enclave: low building heights, near-total preservation of original streetscape, and the most pristine residential atmosphere in Zona Sul.
Apartments run roughly 260 m² with up to four bathrooms — Urca's plate sizes skew larger than Copacabana because the neighborhood was built out as a residential annex of the Pão de Açúcar funicular and never went through the post-war density push. Inventory is microscopic and ownership is heavily multi-generational.
Address
Av. Portugal 986, Urca, Rio de Janeiro — 22291-040
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.
Pão de Açúcar cable car
5 min walk
Praia Vermelha
8 min walk
Praia da Urca
3 min walk
Metrô Botafogo (L1 + L2)
9 min by car
Santos Dumont Airport
12 min by car
Galeão (GIG)
28 min by car
On the map
Edifício Urca located.
Av. Portugal 986, Urca, Rio de Janeiro — 22291-040
Open in full map →
History
How it got here.
Delivered in 1954, during the residential build-out of Avenida Portugal that paralleled Urca's positioning as the quiet bayfront annex of the Pão de Açúcar cable-car system (operating since 1912). Most of the avenue's residential stock dates from the same generation; municipal zoning has kept the neighborhood low-rise ever since.
Urca's protected-heritage status — most of the early-20th-century mansions and apartment buildings are tombados (heritage-listed) — has stabilized the architectural character around the building. Common-area renovations have happened progressively; the building retains its original façade and detailing.
The neighborhood's profile — Roberto Carlos has lived a few blocks away on the same avenue since the 1980s — has helped anchor a steady carioca cultural resident base across the Av. Portugal residential strip.
Recent transactions
What units have closed for.
Av. Portugal bayfront comps. ADV-verified or sourced from public registry filings; Urca turnover is among the lowest in Zona Sul.
Date
Floor / position
Size
Sale price (BRL)
USD
R$/m²
2026-02
07º (frente)
240 m²
R$ 7.4M
$1.45M
R$ 30,800
2025-09
04º (frente)
200 m²
R$ 5.2M
$1.02M
R$ 26,000
2025-03
10º (cobertura)
380 m²
R$ 12.8M
$2.51M
R$ 33,700
Long-term rent
What a unit leases for.
Long-term focus given the 30-night STR minimum and protected-heritage character. Tenants skew academic, diplomatic and media professionals.
Monthly rent range
R$ 14K – R$ 32K
Long-term lease (12+ months)
Who's lived here
Notable residents.
Where named individuals declined attribution, we describe the owner profile. No address-level identification of current residents.
Long-tenured Urca families
Multi-generational ownership is the rule on Av. Portugal — original-buyer families remain in the building across two and three generations.
Academic, cultural & media owners
Urca's protected residential character draws professors (PUC and military academy proximity), media professionals, and cultural figures over the louder Zona Sul beachfront.
Available now
No active units. For the moment.
We currently have no mandates inside Edifício Urca. 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.
Or write directly: info@artdevivre.com.br
Looking at Edifício Urca?
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We work Urca 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.