This post is mainly about architecture. For restaurant reviews in the area please see my posts on Diagonal, the area at the top of Paseig de Gracia, or continuing a bit further north, Gràcia. My Google map of the city is here.
The Quadrat d’Or, or ‘golden quarter’ is the part of the Eixample neighbourhood between Carrer Aribau in the west and Passeig de Sant Joan to the east, with Paseig de Gracia at its epicentre.
The construction of the Eixample, meaning ‘extension’, employed the ideas of radical urban planner Ildefons Cerdà. It was financed by the city’s richest families who competed with each other to build the most aesthetically pleasing residences in the local architectural style that was in fashion at the time; Catalan Modernisme.
This is why there are so many of the famous Modernista buildings centered around the top of Passeig de Gràcia by famous local architects, in particular the big three, Lluís Domènech i Montaner, Josep Puig i Cadafalch and Antonio Gaudi.
Perhaps the most famous, and my favourite, is Casa Batlló at 43 Passeig de Gràcia, built in 1877 but redesigned by Gaudi thirty years later. It’s also known locally as Casa dels Ossos or the ‘House of Bones’ due to it’s skeletal pillars. Personally it makes me think of Hansel and Gretel’s gingerbread house.
I didn’t manage to capture the beautiful roof in this pic but please click on it anyway to fully appreciate the details (along with all the other photos).
Right next door, with it’s greatly contrasting German Gothic influences, is the less surreal but still very wonderful Casa Amatller by Josep Puig i Cadafalch (41 Passeig de Gràcia).
It has one of my favourite windows ever. Loving the gargoyles.
Along with Casa Lleó Morera by Lluís Domènech i Montaner at 35 Passeig de Gràcia (on the corner with Carrer del Consell de Cent), these buildings are the most important on the Illa de la Discòrdia or ‘Block of Discord’, so called because of their very varied styles of construction.
Also popular with the tourists is the Gaudi-designed Casa Mila (aka La Pedrera or ‘the Quarry’) on the corner of Paseig de Gracia and Carrer de Provenca. The undulating walls are intended to look like waves on the sea and the ironwork on the balconies like seaweed.
Going further up the hill and crossing Avenguda Diagonal you will see the lesser known Casa Comalat by Modernista architect Salvador Valeri i Pupurull at 442 Avenguda Diagonal.
This residential building is unusual for having two facades.
The front on Avenguda Diagonal is quite symmetrical and made of stone (sorry I have no decent pic, these are all from the rear).
Whereas the back facade on Calle Corsega is curved and meant to look like the stern of a Spanish galleon.
The influence of Gaudi can clearly be seen throughout.
Continuing up the hill, you will find the neo-Gothic Casa Fuster at 132 Paseig de Gràcia which was Lluís Domènech i Montaner’s last building in Barcelona, completed in 1911.
Montaner’s take on Modernisme was much more understated than Gaudi’s but his buildings are still amazing. Casa Fuster is now a hotel but it still retains its charm.
This post is a work in progress! More next time I’m in town…