The institution was founded by a group of forty-three Portuguese immigrants, political refugees, to promote culture among the Portuguese community in the then capital of the Empire of Brazil in 1837. It was the first association of this community in the city. The building of the current headquarters, designed by the Portuguese architect Rafael da Silva e Castro in Neo-Manueline style. This architectural style evokes the exuberant Gothic-Renaissance style in force at the time of the Portuguese discoveries.

The façade, inspired by the Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon, was worked by Germano José Salle in lisbon stone in Lisbon and brought by ship to Rio. The four statues that adorn it portray respectively Pedro Álvares Cabral, Luís de Camões, Infante D. Henrique and Vasco da Gama. The medallions of the facade portrayed, respectively, the writers Fernão Lopes, Gil Vicente, Alexandre Herculano and Almeida Garrett. The ceiling of the Reading Room has a beautiful chandelier and a skylight in iron structure, the first example of this type of architecture in Brazil. The hall also has a beautiful monument of silver, ivory and marble. What a rare beaut!