The Casa de Portugal was founded on 13 July 1935 with the aim of representing all Portuguese immigrants and their descendants in São Paulo.

There were many Portuguese associations in the city, representing immigrants from specific regions of Portugal, and the original idea of the founders was to bring these organizations under one roof.

The first president was the philologist Francisco da Luz Rebelo Gonçalves, a professor at the newly founded University of São Paulo, but he remained in office for only 10 months and was succeeded for the interim by Aurélio Martins Arrobas and in 1936 by Fernando Ribeiro Bacellar.

The headquarters of the Casa de Portugal is a neocolonial building of five floors designed by Portuguese architect Ricardo Severo.

The creation of a library for the Casa de Portugal had been planned since its foundation, when the partners began to donate books to the collection.