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The Almeida Ribeiro Avenue or San Ma Lou was opened in 1915 to link the western residential area called “Praia Grande” with the main Chinese commercial center, the Inner Harbor.

In order to open this road, all the urban fabric between these two harbors was cut, in a strait line, leaving the Senado Square as the central point. This road created the “Cardus Decumanus” of the city, reinforcing the concept of the Senado Square as the “corporate image” of Macau, easily recognized as the urban soul of the city.

The new avenue display a variety of the 20^th century styles, as Art Nouveau, neoclassic, international style. Nevertheless the urban fabric layout in the “Chinese area” (from the Inner Harbor to Senado Square) , started in 1911 had keep the structure of long and deep houses with a 4-5 meters front façade.

In 1922 the “western half” was opened after decided to level the small hill, former pathway of the Rua da Se (Catedral Street) and Rua Direita (meaning the straight or right), the former main road of “medieval urban” Macau.

By this way, the main road had changed its orientation in 90 degrees. Curiously the Cathedral itself also had rotate 90 degrees in 1844, now looking North.

In 1999 the streetscape in the western haft was revised and improved through the paving with the famous Portuguese cobblestones in its sidewalks and the use of decorative classic public light lamppost, recreating a intimate pedestrian scale and ambience.

This revival reinforced the quality and dignity of the city center, in which the main focus is Senado Square, now a exclusive pedestrian zones that give unity inside the walking range of the Historical Center.

1784, conjectural reconstruction based in 1830 Chinnery sketches

1876 facade. The new building follow a neoclassic style, that was the new fashion in Lisbon at the time.

1939 facade until December 1999.

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Rua da Felicidade (hapiness). Near the end of the street, towards the Inner Harbor, a Pawn tower show with its imposing presence the money price to pay for a (gambler) happiness.

These street is the best-preserved to our times of a typical Chinese quarters of Macau. Built by the end of the 19th century when the population and business were growing this area become a gambling center, the entertainment area and the red district.

The houses follow the traditional Qing dynasty practices in South China region. The brick structural walls serve as firebreak partitions. The ground floors where used for commercial purposes and the above level for residence.

Most of the Chinese houses of this period follow the same style, making difficult to distinguish a shop from a residence house.

The difference were of course in the characters signs but also in the detail elaboration of painted over plaster frescos, decorative ceramic frieze on the gable walls, and on non structural parts like the crafted timber doors; the mother-of-pearl windows, the inner gilded crafted screen partitions.

The street paved with granite slabs clear demonstrate the wealth of this quarters.

A pawn tower at the end of the road (recently demolished) was not part of the military structure of the city, but was part of banking institutions, that provided credit as well safety for the goods of the wealthy.

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