Quinta da Baroneza

History

The land was called Fazenda Baroneza and was used for cattle ranching. In 1999, ESPB — Espírito Santo Property Brasili and OA Empreendimentos, from Grupo Oscar Americano, launched a subdivision there with no equivalent in the country: ten million square metres with complete urban infrastructure, clubs, a golf course and an equestrian village, sold in 971 lots of at least three thousand square metres. The pair had already been partners since 1993 and had jointly signed Praça Villa Lobosi, the Place des Vosges and the Shopping Villa-Lobos, in Alto de Pinheirosi; the Baroneza was the territorial scale of the same repertoire. The group’s portfolio is today gathered and managed by Casuarinai.

The name has two origins that meet. One is the farm itself; the other is in the tiles at the main entrance, which point to the Quinta do Patino, in Estoril, near Lisbon, built by Grupo Espírito Santo with participation from OA. The “z” in the farm’s original spelling was kept deliberately.

• Concept: the residential resort — a second home with a complete structure of leisure, service and security, and a territorial scale large enough that nature is not landscaping, but territory.
• Curiosities: the development was the outright winner of the ultra-high-end development category at the 2013 Prêmio Master Imobiliário. Many of the residences were built on double and triple lots — and, according to ESPB at the time of the award, there are houses that add up to ten lots, more than thirty thousand square metres of land. Of the ten million m² total, 2.4 million of Atlantic Forest were turned into a Private Natural Heritage Reserve, one of the largest in the state.

Architecture and aesthetics

A subdivision has no façade — it has a layout, and here it was designed on top of the terrain, not against it. The avenues follow the curves of the hills between seven lakes and the contours of the Rio Atibaia; the pavements are grassed and permeable, and all the electrical and fibre-optic network runs underground, so that there is no pole or wire in sight. The houses are free within well-defined building rules, and the repertoire ranges from the reinterpreted farmhouse to contemporary glass-and-concrete architecture — what gives the set unity is not the style, it’s the size of the lot and the forest left around it.

The development’s signature design piece is the golf course. Dan Blankenshipi built a links course of Scottish inspiration there — the open course, shaped by the terrain and exposed to the wind, rather than the wooded parkland that dominates Brazilian golf. It covers more than 800,000 square metres: 350,000 of playing area, 300,000 of rough, eighteen holes, par 72, four tee boxes and more than 6,950 yards.

Aesthetics and scarcity

Technical specifications

• Towers and units: gated subdivision with 971 residential lots for single-family houses — one house per lot, no towers. Many residences occupy adjoining lots.
• Sizes: lots from 3,000 m²; residences built on double, triple and larger lots, reaching more than 30,000 m² of land.
• Parking: defined by each residence’s own project.
• Structural highlights: total area of 10 million m², of which 4 million are green area and 2.4 million are Atlantic Forest in two Private Natural Heritage Reserves catalogued by IBAMA · 7 lakes and 20 springs · contours of the Rio Atibaia · its own water catchment, treatment and distribution station and its own sewage treatment station, with reclaimed water used in common areas · underground power and fibre-optic (FTTH) cabling to the residence · grassed, permeable pavements · 15 km of cycle paths, 20 km of monitored and signposted trails and 5 km of ecological trails along the Rio Atibaia.
• Security: 24-hour surveillance, biometric access, cameras every 100 metres of the perimeter and radar-controlled speed on internal roads.
• Support structure: full medical centre with ICU, ambulance and on-call specialists · two helipads, one for residents and another exclusively for medical emergencies, authorised to operate 24 hours (SDJB code) · a 12-suite guest house for owners and guests · an ecumenical space · convenience shops within the perimeter, including Kopenhagen, Track&Field, Iguatemi 365, a greengrocer, a grocery store, a wine cellar and a hairdresser.
• Registry and parameters: gated subdivision in the municipality of Bragança Paulistai, accessed at km 33.5 of Rodovia Alkindar Monteiro Junqueirai (SP-063), between Itatiba and Bragança Paulista · 971 lots · single-family residential use · solid, integrated management, run by the owners themselves · the condominium accounts for one of the municipality’s largest property tax collections and for more than a thousand direct jobs.

Leisure and facilities

• Golf Club: 18 holes, par 72, links course by Dan Blankenshipi, more than 6,950 yards, 4 tee boxes, Bermuda grass with automatic irrigation and drainage, driving range and putting green, clubhouse with changing rooms, saunas, bar and pro shop
• Social Clubhouse: outdoor pools with lifeguards and age-group monitoring, bar, restaurant, sushi bar and pizzeria, massage room, dry and steam saunas, 2 fast tennis courts and 5 clay courts, multi-sport court, fitness centre with monitoring, children’s area with a play structure and zip line
• Forest Club: bowling alley with 4 automated lanes, heated indoor semi-Olympic pool, pilates room with free classes for members, 2 squash courts, multi-sport court, 2 fast tennis courts, 5 beach tennis courts with pergola, floodlit five-a-side football arena, fitness centre, steam sauna
• Equestrian Village: 80 stalls, paddocks, riding school, 2 sand arenas and 1 grass arena, tack room, saddle room, boot room, veterinary room, lounge and café
• Beach Club: sandy strip and volleyball net on Lago das Palmeiras, kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding and monitored swimming, lifeguards, kiosk with minibar, free fishing for owners and more than 6 km of trails for running, walking and horse riding
• Recycling of green, liquid and solid waste and selective collection

Location and surroundings

Points of interest · distances in metres

Bragança Paulista: the address

Bragança Paulistai is not a neighbourhood: it’s an inland São Paulo state town on the axis of the Fernão Dias and Dom Pedro I motorways, and the Baroneza sits on the stretch of hills between it and Itatiba, at km 33.5 of Rodovia Alkindar Monteiro Junqueirai. The route from São Paulo runs along the Rodovia dos Bandeirantesi or the Anhanguera to Itatiba and takes about an hour — the development’s material quotes 102 kilometres; press coverage from the time of the Prêmio Master quoted 90. What the region has, and the capital cannot reproduce, is the combination of climate and terrain: four well-marked seasons, mountain air and hills that guarantee, at the same time, view and privacy. It was this equation that made the stretch the state’s ultra-high-end country house belt — and that’s why JHSFi chose the same region, a few kilometres further on, to plant Fazenda Santa Helenai.