Eliot's Travels

Passeig de Gracia

BARCELONA

This street has the highest concentration of Modernist buildings in the city, actually the world. When we chose to come to Barcelona, we had no idea what an architectural delight it would be. I had never really heard of the Modernisme style in architecture; but we greatly enjoyed the colors, shapes, and designs. Cases Rocamora built in 1918 was the first Modernist building we saw on this amazing street. I love the colorful roof. This corner building had wonderful details and a renaissance feel. Modernisme (Art Nouveau) emerged as a trend in Barcelona during the 1880s. The pioneers of the style delved deep into the past for insipiration [gothic, medieval], absorbed everything they could and then ripped up the rulebook.

Manzana de la Discordia: the block of disagreement (discord)

The block of disagreement has buildings from the three main architects of the Modernisme movement. It shows how eccentric, individual, and diverse the movement was. The most well known architect is Antoni Gaudi; his Casa Batllo that anchors one corner of the block. We toured this amazing building.

Right next door is Puig i Cadafalch's medieval, Dutch looking Casa Amatller. It has rigid stepped gable and floral gothic details. The facade shows St. George fighting the dragon - a Catalan nationalist theme. The other corner of the block is Casa Lleo Morera. From 1902-06, Demenech i Montaner carried out a complete reformation of the building. Both of these are closed to the public.

posted by Whitney @ 9:21 PM