Santos Dumont Museum House (Portuguese: Museu Casa de Santos Dumont), better known as The Enchanted (Portuguese: A Encantada), is a museum located in the municipality of Petrópolis, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[1]
The house is a picturesque residence built in 1918 for AeronautAlberto Santos-Dumont on a steep hillside near the centre of the city.[1] The street is Rua do Encanto, meaning "Enchanted Street", so the house was nicknamed A Encantada, "The Enchanted".[1][2] It was constructed with the help of engineer Eduardo Pederneiras.[3]
The house has some unusual innovations. Most notably, one of his inventions was the shower with hot water,[1] the only one of Brazil at that time,[3] being heated with alcohol.[2][4] The external staircase of the house can only be climbed starting with the right foot,[1][3][4] while the internal staircase can only started with the left foot.[3][4][2] The internal architecture of the house is unusual for the period in that no partitions are used between the rooms.[2][3] The house also has no kitchen,[3] Santos-Dumont having all his meals delivered from the restaurant of the Palace Hotel,[2] which at that time was across the street. It is now the Catholic University of Petrópolis.[4]
After his death, the house was donated to the City Hall of Petrópolis by his nephews so that "an institution was installed that would maintain his memory."[3][4][5]
On July 14, 1952, the house was registered by IPHAN and today is part of the National Historical and Artistic Heritage.[1][6][5]
