Overview
- The homologation was published in the Diário Oficial da União, placing the building under Iphan’s definitive protection.
- The site housed the Dops from 1962 to 1975 and, according to Iphan, was used for arrests, interrogations and torture during the dictatorship.
- Designed by Heitor de Mello and inaugurated in 1910, the three‑story Belle Époque landmark is cited for its French‑influenced eclectic architecture.
- The federally owned property had been ceded for police use, was vacated in 2011 due to structural risk linked to a neighboring work, and remains abandoned.
- The Ministry of Culture will lead the allocation process with other federal bodies as the MPF and Tortura Nunca Mais advocate a memory and human‑rights center, with Iphan noting this as its first recognition of a traumatic‑memory site and signaling reviews of others.