Maria Pace Chiavari
The Moinho Fluminense mill: notable example of industrial architecture
Lacking access to the actual designs of the first establishment, they decided to rebuild through a fresh reading of the current construction. A building was raised on the desirable corner plots of land acquired by the Gianelli brothers, with one façade facing the Rua da Saúde, (today Rua Sacadura Cabral), and the other looking out on to the old Mercado da Harmonia market, transformed into the Praça da Harmonia plaza and currently called Praça Coronel Assunção.
On the ground floor of the façade that today opens onto the Rua Sacadura Cabral are the relics of the very first Moinho Fluminense mill: a solid English brickwork wall with three large bricked-up arches, hinting at a neo-classical style. This original façade is completed by pictures of the mill during the late XIX century and early XX century. At a height equivalent to the ground floor of the modern building, the old façade was topped by three triangular pediments.
Continuing on to the second façade, the use of solid bricks continues. The repetition of this material and the way that it is constantly used underscores the links between this design and British culture. It was in the UK that the links between art and industry first developed, leading to renewed use of old materials, like exposed brickwork.55 It is believed that the mortar between the bricks used in the Moinho Fluminense complex was mixed with whale oil, in order to make the walls more resistant to constantly vibrating machinery.56 Part of this two-story corner building was earmarked for the structure inherited from the first flour mill, when this was transferred from the Rua Larga de São Joaquim.
On the main part of the façade running along the Rua da Saúde to the sea, the major scene-stealer was (and still is) the main building, which is six stories high. It’s elegant features float over the symbolic continuity constructed among the different production sectors, like gears in the same plant. This feeling of homogeneity is underpinned along the entire façade by repeating the same brick designs, particularly in the form of flattened window arches. However, the sharp difference in height and the artistic and structural gap between this building and the rest of the complex is explained by its contents. Housing complex milling and grinding machinery imported from the UK, this building is the heart of the plant.
Intact even after all these years, the precise and elegant design of its façade conveys the symbolic value assigned to it by its designer, who selected the emblematic contours of the complex. An outstanding example of urban scenography, the richness of this façade lies in the counterpart play of bright and dark gaps and projections, making skilled use of light. These contrasts highlight the difference between the weight of the sides with their exposed brickwork and the lightness of the gap in the central span of the façade. Repeated in all six levels, these hollow spaces house the covered iron skyways that connect the two sides of the building on each floor. The richness of the result is enhanced by the elaborate wrought iron designs of the flattened arches and parapets of the skyways. This is one of the earliest examples in Rio architecture of iron components imported from the UK.57 the façade is completed by a broad hollow arch with pillars rising six stories, centralized and topped by the tympanum.
The meandering routes of the flour production process the reason for the different shapes of the connections between the buildings that constitute the Moinho Fluminense mill.
A good example of this is the skyway leading directly to the last building (a shed) from the five-story building. Its use as a store is suggested by its façade, with brick pillars alternating with vertical slits that allow light and air to enter. It leads on to the seafront. The mill wharf was located right there, alongside the bridge, where sacks of imported wheat were once offloaded and then conveyed to the mill storehouses.