This thesis explores Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, locally known as San Ma Lou, as a key urban space reflecting Macau’s colonial past and cultural hybridity. Focusing on the period from the 1920s to the 1970s, the study examines the architectural and commercial evolution of the shophouse, a Southeast Asian colonial housing typology that lines this central avenue. The transformation of shophouse façades, from Neo-Classical to Art Deco to Modernist styles, not only traces aesthetic shifts but also reveals the social, economic, and cultural transitions shaped by Portuguese colonial rule and local Chinese identity.