The awe-inspiring Sorocaban Railway station today houses Sala São Paulo, headquarters of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra and one of Brazil’s most important concert halls.

The railway station was designed by Christiano Stockler das Neves in 1925, at a time when the city, stimulated by the coffee trade and railway trade, was growing at quickly. The building, whose eclectic design das Neves described as Louis the XVI neo classical marked by the sobriety of the ornaments and details - took thirteen years to complete. In 1938, when it was ready to open to the public, São Paulo's residents had become accustomed to automobile transportation, minimizing the usefulness of trolleys and trains.

By the 1990s the principal area of the building mostly was being rented out for events, and in 1997, the Secratary of Culture of the State of São Paulo began working to transform the railway station into the Júlio Prestes Cultural Complex.

Situated in the center of the city, neighboring São Paulo’s Pinacoteca art museum and the Museum of Sacred Art, Sala São Paulo quickly became a key institution in the region’s cultural revitalization.

Listed as a Historical Patrimony by São Paulo’s council for the defense of cultural patrimonies, Condephaat, and targeted to be maintained as an important cultural landmark in the city, Sala São Paulo was officially inaugurated on the 9th of July 1999 with an Osesp performance of the Resurrection Symphony by Gustav Mahler.