The year 2017 marked 150 years since the birth of the architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch. This route will take you around some of his most outstanding works in the Eixample district of Barcelona: the Casa Amatller, the Casa Serra, the Palau Baró de Quadres, the Casa de les Punxes and the Palau Macaya. You could also sign up for the guided tour which is organised one Saturday every month.
CASA AMATLLERThe house of the chocolate magnate, Antoni Amatller, is one of the finest examples of Catalan
Modernista architecture and one of the few that still has the rich ornamentation that is so characteristic of this style and so popular with the Catalan bourgeoisie. Located in the Passeig de Gràcia, the
Casa Amatller is notable on account of the composition of its facade and the refurbishment of the ground and first floors to reflect the original architecture and the
Modernista decorative arts it employed.
CASA SERRAThe house was designed as a family house to resemble a small palace, but it was never inhabited by its owner. It is located in the Rambla de Catalunya and with it Puig i Cadafalch wanted to pay homage to the former Casa Gralla, demolished in the mid-19th century, by reproducing the main entrance and the ornamentation of the windows.
PALAU BARÓ DE QUADRESPuig i Cadafalch gave this building two facades, one on Carrer Rosselló and the other on Avinguda Diagonal, in a mixture of styles with neo-Gothic carvings and stained-glass windows. The building housed the Music Museum until 2011 and then, until 2013, it was the premises of the Casa Àsia. At the present time it is where the main offices of the Institut Ramon Llull are located.
CASA DE LES PUNXESThe
Casa de les Punxes, also known as the Casa Terradas, was built in 1905 for the three daughters in the family. Inspired by Neuschwanstein castle in Bavaria, Puig i Cadafalch made the six turrets coincide with the intersections of the three roads around the house: Avinguda Diagonal (which, being the busiest road, has the main and most sumptuous facade), Carrer Rosselló and Carrer Bruc.
PALAU MACAYAThe building, located in Passeig de Sant Joan, is now the property of Obra Social ‘la Caixa’, and is outstanding on account of its white facade, with ochre sgraffiti, by Joan Paradís, and the wrought iron work, by Manuel Ballarín. Eusebi Arnau and Alfons Pujol, who worked frequently with Puig i Cadafalch, also worked on the ornamentation of the facade. Being a little off the city's tourist track, this building is often overlooked.
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