Rio de Janeiro is the capital and largest city of the state of the same name, and the second largest city in Brazil, with an estimated population of 6,729,894 as of 2024. Its metropolitan area is also the second largest in Brazil and the third largest in South America, with a population of 12,022,050. Rio de Janeiro has a relatively short skyline for a city of its size; nevertheless, it is the largest skyline in its state. As of 2026, Rio de Janeiro has 36 buildings over 100 meters (328 ft). The tallest building in Rio de Janeiro is the Rio Sul Center, an 48-story office skyscraper with a height of 163 m (535 ft) and completed in 1982. It is one of two skyscrapers taller than 150 m (492) ft, the other being the Ventura Corporate Towers.
As Brazil's most populated city in the early 20th century, the city had some of Brazil's earliest high-rises, such as the Art Deco Joseph Gire Building in 1929, and the Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil, with a habitable clock tower, in 1945. The majority of high-rises above 100 m (328 ft) in the city were built between the 1960s and 1980s; since then, relatively few tall buildings have been completed. Only 5 high-rises that reach a height of 100 m (328 ft) have been built since 1990. The tallest of these are the Ventura Corporate Towers, completed in 2010.
Most of the tallest buildings of Rio de Janeiro are concentrated in the central business district of Centro. However, the city's tallest, Rio Sul Center, is located in Botafogo, in the south of the city. Shorter high-rises can be found in various neighborhoods throughout the rest of the city, including along the coast of the famed Copacabana Beach. In addition to its high-rises, Rio de Janeiro's skyline is also famed for its natural backdrop, particularly the peaks of Sugarloaf Mountain and Corcovado, above which sits the statute of Christ the Redeemer.
Rio de Janeiro was the capital and most populous city of Brazil during the early 20th century. The city, and the central neighbourhood of Centro, is home to some of Brazil's first high-rises, the most notable of which was the Joseph Gire Building, completed in 1927 on the Praça Mauá. It was the first building in the city to reach a height of 100 m (328 ft). It was the tallest building in all of Brazil and Latin America until it was surpassed by the Martinelli Building in São Paulo in 1929. An office building, it initially served as the headquarters of the newspaper A Noite. From 1937 onwards, it was also home to the Rádio Nacional.
The Joseph Gire Building remained the tallest building in Rio de Janeiro until 1945, when a high-rise building located at the then newly rebuilt Central do Brasil train station was completed. The Art Deco office tower served as the seat of the Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil. The building was part of major improvement works undertaken by the new authoritarian regime in Brazil, the Estado Novo, which included the construction of new buildings for public institutions and the widening and opening of streets.
In the 1960s, many high-rise office buildings started to be built in Centro, such as the headquarters of the Banco do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Bank of the State of Rio de Janeiro) and Sede BNH. More office buildings were built during the 1970s and 1980s. Development also spread to the beachfront Botafogo neighbourhood, with Morada do Sol residential complex, consisting of seven buildings above 100 m, completed there in 1967. Nearby, the Rio Sul Center became the tallest building in the city in 1982, and remains the tallest today. The brutalist-style skyscraper is part of a commercial complex that contains a shopping mall.
A few more buildings above 100 m were also built further afield. The Windsor Atlantica hotel, built in 1976, is situated on Rio's famous Copacabana beach. Now renamed the Hilton Copacabana Hotel, it remains the tallest building in Copacabana today. The upper-middle class neighbourhood of Barra da Tijuca has two notable cylindrical buildings, Torre Ernest Hemingway and Torre Charles Degaulle, built in 1977 and 1990, respectively. Originally conceived in the 1960s as part of an ambitious project of 76 cylindrical buildings by Oscar Niemeyer, only those two buildings were ever completed. A third unfinished building, Torre H, will eventually be completed after 2025.
Since the 1990s, few high-rises above 100 m have been built in Rio de Janeiro. The only office building built in Centro above that height in the 1990s was the Manhattan Tower. The 2000s also saw only one new building above 100 m, Torre Almirante. It was built on the site of the former Andorinha Building, which was destroyed by a fire in 1986. The new high-rise incorporates the facade of the destroyed building. The Ventura Corporate Towers were completed in 2010, becoming the city's second tallest building. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox associates, the building among the most significant high-rise projects completed in Rio de Janeiro in the 21st century.
Currently, the tallest building completed during the 2020s is Residential Skylux by Tegra. Notably, it is the first residential high-rise above 100 m in Centro, a predominantly commercial area. The high-rise is part of a potential trend to encourage greater residential density in Rio's central areas. On the side of the building is a 75-meter tall mural painted by local artist Bruno Big with 780 liters of paint.
This map shows the location of buildings in Centro in Rio de Janeiro that are taller than 100 m (328 ft). Buildings located outside of Centro are not shown. Each marker is numbered by the building's height rank, and colored by the decade of its completion.
This lists ranks completed buildings in Rio de Janeiro that stand at least 100 m (328 ft) tall as of 2026, based on standard height measurement. This includes spires and architectural details but does not include antenna masts. The âÂÂYearâ column indicates the year of completion. Buildings tied in height are sorted by year of completion with earlier buildings ranked first, and then alphabetically.
As of 2026, Rio de Janeiro has no buildings under construction that are expected to reach a height of 100 m (328 ft).