Santos Dumont House Museum

Santos Dumont Museum House (Brazilian Portuguese: Museu Casa de Santos Dumont), better known as The Enchanted (Brazilian Portuguese: A Encantada), is a museum located in the municipality of Petrópolis, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[1]

Santos Dumont House Museum

Established	1932 (1932)
Location	Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Coordinates	22°30′37″S 43°11′03″W
Type	Biographical museum Writer's home Historic house museum

The house of Santos Dumont in Petrópolis is a picturesque residence embedded in a steep town in the city, built in 1918.[1] The street chosen today is called Enchanted Street and in Petrópolis, the house was nicknamed "The Enchanted".[1][2] It was built with the help of engineer Eduardo Pederneiras.[3]

The house has some peculiarities, as one of his latest inventions is the shower with hot water,[1] the only one of Brazil at that time,[3] being heated with alcohol,[2][4] and also the external staircase where you can only start climbing with the right leg,[1][3][4] and the internal one where one can only start to climb with the left leg,[3][4][2] and the very architecture of the house where no partitions are used between the rooms.[2][3] In the house there is no kitchen[3] and Santos-Dumont called the restaurant Palace Hotel to deliver his food.[2] Today there is the Catholic University of Petrópolis where there was the restaurant.[4]

The house has three floors, plus an observatory, over the roof.[1][2][3]

The second book of the Aviator, the work What I Saw, What We're Going to See, was written in that house in 1918.[4]

After the death of Santos-Dumont, the house was donated to the City Hall of Petrópolis by his nephews so that "an institution was installed that would maintain his memory."[3][4][5]

On July 14, 1952, the house was registered by IPHAN and today it is part of the National Historical and Artistic Heritage.[1][6][5]