[1][2] In 1923, Banco do Brasil bought the old building, built in 1901, and hired Hippolyto Gustavo Pujol Junior, an engineer-architect, to convert it into a five-storey bank branch, which operated from 1927 until 1996.

Giulio Carlo Argan, an Italian art historian and theorist, points out that the banks have become a type of glass-covered palace with an interior portico.

[7][8] At the end of the 19th century, banking institutions were located on São Bento, 15 de Novembro and Comercio streets, in the central perimeter of the city, a zone dominated by coffee-growing landowners and people concerned with real estate investment.

[6] In the 1920s, Banco do Brasil restored its relationship with the federal government and obtained permission to open a portfolio to rediscount the shares of other banks.

Pujol, who had already designed Jardim Europa at the end of the 1920s, developed his architectural narrative in line with European styles, especially Art Nouveau, but adapting it to Brazilian urban molds.

[9][2] In Pujol's project for the Banco do Brasil, five floors were built and the bank's vaults were installed in the basement, including a large central chamber, armed and armored.

Originally, the cellar was planned to contain two large rooms to house the equipment required for the safe deposit box rental service.

Later, the property on Álvares Penteado Street was occupied by the bank's real estate administration department, but the first floor remained as a service station.

[6][2] In the 1960s, due to the Banking Reform Law and the creation of the Conselho Monetário Nacional (English: National Monetary Council), Banco do Brasil had to adapt its operating profile and entered the market in search of clients.

[6][11][13] At the beginning of 1999, the then president of Banco do Brasil, Andrea Calabi, recovered the project and commissioned a technical study on the implementation of the cultural center.

In June, in order to modernize the area according to the new functional requirements of a contemporary cultural space, the project was reformulated with the participation of architects Luiz Telles, Miriam Macul, Renato Riani, Silva Simões and Paulo Gambini.

[6][11][13] Architect Luiz Telles was chosen to take on the CCBB's work after his project for the São Paulo Cultural Center, located on Vergueiro Street.

The remaining sections were used as a ticket office, reception and luggage storage; the removed parts were reutilized in the chocolate store on the third floor.

After its inauguration, CCBB Rio de Janeiro relocated part of its collection of works and sculptures stored in the bank's warehouses to the new headquarters.

It was built in a reinforced concrete structure and brick masonry with imported materials such as the French stone slabs of the roof and the North American sconces and light fittings.

The facade of the building is decorated with ornaments, such as the wrought iron coffee foliage on the internal and external railings, the central skylight and the images of the Greek gods Mercury and Vulcan in the entrance hall.

[6][14] On September 28, 2014, Folha de S.Paulo published the results of its team's evaluation of the sixty largest theaters in the city of São Paulo.