House for sale in Leblon, where the garden ends on the rocks
A 1960 Sérgio Bernardes condominium, on the rock between Leblon and the Atlantic.
800 m² across 6 levels · 4 en-suite bedrooms · garden over the ocean · pool, jacuzzi and sauna · direct access to the sea.
A house that was built as an argument, not as a product.
Eight hundred square metres across six levels, on the rock where Leblon ends and the Avenida Niemeyer begins. Two private lifts and internal staircases connect the floors. Every level was drawn to take the sea.
The upper part, entered from the street, holds the entertaining rooms, the primary suite with its balcony, two bathrooms and two dressing rooms, a double-height living room, a screening room and a lounge with a fireplace. The lower part opens toward the water: three further en-suite bedrooms, then a covered deck — and from it, the beach.
The architect took the end of the land as his fee
In 1960, Sérgio Bernardes — one of the great Brazilian architects of the twentieth century — was commissioned to build a condominium on this rocky peninsula between the Atlantic and the Avenida Niemeyer. Rather than take his fee in full, he asked for the plot at the far end, and built his own house on it.
What he drew was not a tower but fewer than ten houses, set into the rock. Stone buttresses, suspended terraces, glass from floor to ceiling: the line between inside and outside all but disappears. It is closer to what Neutra or Lautner left in California than to anything else in Rio — a work of architecture you can live in. The condominium now carries his name.
A house that carries the rock on, instead of sitting on it
The condominium opened in 1960 under another name: Costa Brava. Bernardes was then working on what he called the casa-paisagem — a house that does not stand on the landscape but continues it. The one he built for himself, at the very end of the promontory, is still a reference in Brazilian architecture.
This house was drawn on the same rule. The rock was not levelled; it was inhabited. Buttresses of natural stone carry the levels down the slope, the terraces hang over the water, and the glass hands the sea the job of a wall. Six decades later, fewer than ten houses share the headland — an address you are shown rather than one you find.
A garden that ends at the ocean
The garden is the heart of the house. A pool, a jacuzzi, a sauna, an outdoor kitchen with barbecue, a dining area under the sky — and beyond the planting, nothing but the rocks and the open Atlantic.
It faces Ipanema, the Arpoador and the Dois Irmãos. The same view that draws photographers to the west end of Leblon beach, seen from a private garden instead of a crowded pavement.
No road between the house and the sea
On the level closest to the sea, a partly covered deck offers a second outdoor dining area and a support kitchen. From there the garden carries on down to the rocks and the sand — without crossing a road.
No beach in Brazil is private: under federal law they all belong to the Union, and this one is no exception — a discreet public stairway reaches it at the far end. What is rare is the relationship between the house and the water. Fewer than ten houses share this headland, the garden ends on the rocks, and no road has to be crossed. In a neighbourhood built out for decades, that does not come back on the market.
Concrete, wood, and the sea in every room
The interiors keep the promise of the architecture. A double-height living room, a dining room panelled in wood with a mineral mural, two kitchens, a lounge with a fireplace, and a screening room fitted out properly.
The house is sold furnished and fully equipped. Two staff bedrooms with their own bathrooms and a television lounge, four parking spaces — two of them covered — and thirty visitor spaces in the condominium.
The whole house, level by level
Six levels, in a few minutes
The house from the street entrance down to the deck on the water.
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Where Leblon runs out
The last address in Leblon
The house sits at the western end of the neighbourhood, on the headland below the Dois Irmãos. Leblon beach is a few minutes on foot — the quiet end, the one the residents keep for themselves.
A neighbourhood you cross on foot
Between the Atlantic, the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, Gávea and Ipanema. Within ten minutes' walk: the beach, the lagoon, several of the best private schools in the country — and enough not to cook again: Sushi Leblon, CT Boucherie, Giuseppe Grill, Bazzar, Talho Capixaba for the bread, Jobi and BB Lanches for everything else. Elsewhere in Rio, you drive.
Understated by habit
Leblon wears its money quietly. The buildings are low and plain, the good addresses carry no sign, and the best-known restaurants look like neighbourhood places. The condominium is that same idea taken to its end: a gate, a road, and nothing to see from the outside.
There is nothing left to build
Leblon is one of the most sought-after addresses in Brazil. What follows is not a claim about it — it is a constraint on it.
No land is left
The neighbourhood has been entirely built for decades. There is no buildable plot. Every property that reaches the market is a resale or a renovation.
The scale never changed
One or two flats per floor, small buildings, modernist architecture from the 1950s to the 1980s. The Sérgio Bernardes condominium, 1960, belongs to that generation — it is the proof of it, not the exception to it.
And then there is this one
A house rather than a flat, inside a Bernardes condominium, with a garden that ends on the rocks and no road to cross. Leblon has no ground left on which to produce that combination a second time.
Rio de Janeiro, in full
We have been letting and selling the best addresses in Latin America since 2007. This house is one of them.
approx. US$ 3,323,500 at the July 2026 rate
Sold furnished and fully equipped. The figures below are those published by Latin Exclusive.
By the week, if you would rather try it first
From R$ 8,700 per night
approx. US$ 1,701 at the July 2026 rate
The house is let as a seasonal rental as well as offered for sale. Rates vary by season — New Year and Carnival carry their own. Tell us your dates.
Minimum stay
5 nights. Longer over New Year and Carnival.
Asked often
How many bedrooms are there, exactly?
4 en-suite bedrooms for the household and guests, plus 2 staff bedrooms with their own bathrooms — 6 in all. The rental listing counts the 4; the sale listing counts all 6. Both are right.
Is the beach private?
No — and no beach in Brazil is: they all belong to the Union and cannot be privatised. What the house has is its own way down to the water from its garden, without crossing a road. The beach below is also reached by a discreet public stairway at the far end, which few people use — so it stays very quiet.
Is the house sold furnished?
Yes — furnished and fully equipped.
What are the running costs?
IPTU R$ 4,000 per year, condominium charges R$ 4,000 per month, as published by Latin Exclusive.
Can it be rented rather than bought?
Yes. Seasonal rental from R$ 8,700 per night, 5 nights minimum, longer over New Year and Carnival.
What is the condominium?
Costa Brava, built in 1960 to a design by Sérgio Bernardes, now named after him. Fewer than ten houses on a private headland.
Rio, from where you are
Approximate flight times to Rio de Janeiro. Routes verified in July 2026.
From the Americas
- São Paulo~1 h
- Buenos Aires~3 h 30
- Santiago~4 h
- Lima~5 h
- Bogotá~6 h 30
- Panamá City~7 h
- Miami~9 h
- Atlanta~10 h
- New York · JFK varies by season~10 h
- Houston~10 h 30
From Europe
- Lisboa~10 h
- Madrid~10 h
- Roma~11 h
- Paris~11 h
- London~11 h 30
- Amsterdam~11 h 30
- Frankfurt~11 h 45
Galeão international airport (GIG) is 25 km away, 30 to 45 minutes. Santos Dumont (SDU, domestic) is 15 km.
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