Huis de Pinto

The Huis de Pinto stands out with a broad, ornate sandstone facade that sits strangely heavy against the brick houses flanking it. Isaac de Pinto, a wealthy Sephardic Jewish merchant, bought the structure in sixteen fifty-one and remodeled it to show his standing. He transformed a traditional merchant house into a grand residence with a classical front. When the city planned to demolish the house for a new road in the nineteen seventies, neighbors and activists occupied the building until the city relented.