In 1868, a road was finally opened to the chapel of Santo Amaro in Flamengos. It was in the late part of the 19th century that Manuel Inácio de Souza Sarmento, a rich politician in the municipal council of Horta constructed the Palacete of Pilar alongside the Hermitage of Pilar, which would be centre of society until it was divided between his ancestors a century later. The residence was ransacked by his descendants, sold off and occupied by the family of the Viscount Leite-Perry, losing much of its cultural importance.