Palau Güell

Palau Güell is an extraordinary townhouse located in the neighborhood El Raval.

Young Antoni Gaudí designed the building for wealthy shipowner and industrialist Eusebi Güell i Bacigalupi. Commissioned in 1885 to be an extension of the Güell family property located on the Ramblas, the building later became the first modern building to be declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Although it was not conventional at the time to expose iron supports in architecture, Gaudí took advantage of them, turning them to his advantage.

My personal favorite of the building was the roof terrace, which is a fantastic series of chimneys adorned with swirling patterns made from fragments of glazed tile, glass, and earthenware.

Casa Battló de noche

The Casa Battló was just as spectacular at night as it was during our visit during the day...

Casa Vicens

Casa Vicens was Antoni Gaudí’s first major private commission.

Taking inspiration from the Moorish style, he covered the façade in linear green-and-white tiles with a flower motif; the decorative iron railings serve as a reminder of Gaudí’s early training as a metalsmith.

Casa-Museu Gaudí

This spired house is where Gaudí lived for most of his remaining twenty years, 1906-1926. Inside there are a number of different examples of furniture that Gaudí created in addition to other oddities.

Fundació Antoni Tàpies

The Lonely Planet describes the building as a “pioneering” Modernista building that was built in the early 1880s. It exists as an homage to, and by, the Catalan artist, Antoni Tàpies.

Unfortunately, we were unable to see the exhibitions that are normally on display inside due to the fact that the museum was closed for renovation.

Casa Batlló

Designed for the industrialist Josep Batlló and completed in 1907, the Casa Batlló was constructed from what was originally an apartment building to liven up the building. Gaudí was hired for such an endeavor, and he created a fascade that Dalí later compared to “the tranquil waters of a lake.” Like most of Gaudí projects, there is evidence of inspiration in nature. The façade of the building hangs in folds, much like skin, and from below, the balconies resemble evil eyes.

The interior of the building has a very organic ambience, with snakeskin-patterned walls in addition to window frames, fireplaces, doorways, and staircases without a trace of a straight line anywhere.

Casa Amatller

Although the majority of the Modernist sites in Barcelona were created by Antoni Gaudí, Casa Amatller serves as an example of a contribution to the Modernist ambience by someone other than Gaudí, Josep Puig I Cadafalch. Casa Amatller is an apartment building dating to 1900 that was commissioned by Catalan chocolate manufacturer, Antoni Amatller.

Unfortunately for us, the building was undergoing renovation while we were in Barcelona, so we got to see a small fraction of the interior. I guess that is motivation to make it back to Spain someday, eh?

All the same, I personally really enjoyed the stained glass. To say the least, it was a change from what I was used to seeing in the churches scattered across Spain!

La Pedrera

First on the to-do list for our visit was La Pedrera. Originally constructed as the Casa Milà between 1905 and 1911, what is popularly known as La Pedrera, or “The Stone Quarry,” was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984. The rugged facade of the building is said to have been inspired by the mountain of Montserrat, while the apartments themselves resemble eroded cave dwellings.

Because of the curvatures in the architecture, the popular joke is that the new tenants would only be able to have snakes as pets! Gaudí described the building as “more luminous than light,” and while it was his last secular commission, critics have declared it among his best.