Intro

About

In this first stage, the catalogue focuses on the modern and contemporary architecture designed and built between 1832 –year of construction of the first industrial chimney in Barcelona that we establish as the beginning of modernity– until today.

The project is born to make the architecture more accessible both to professionals and to the citizens through a website that is going to be updated and extended. Contemporary works of greater general interest will be incorporated, always with a necessary historical perspective, while gradually adding works from our past, with the ambitious objective of understanding a greater documented period.

The collection feeds from multiple sources, mainly from the generosity of architectural and photographic studios, as well as the large amount of excellent historical and reference editorial projects, such as architectural guides, magazines, monographs and other publications. It also takes into consideration all the reference sources from the various branches and associated entities with the COAC and other collaborating entities related to the architectural and design fields, in its maximum spectrum.

Special mention should be made of the incorporation of vast documentation from the COAC Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.

The rigour and criteria for selection of the works has been stablished by a Documental Commission, formed by the COAC’s Culture Spokesperson, the director of the COAC Historical Archive, the directors of the COAC Digital Archive, and professionals and other external experts from all the territorial sections that look after to offer a transversal view of the current and past architectural landscape around the territory.

The determination of this project is to become the largest digital collection about Catalan architecture; a key tool of exemplar information and documentation about architecture, which turns into a local and international referent, for the way to explain and show the architectural heritage of a territory.

Aureli Mora i Omar Ornaque
Directors arquitecturacatalana.cat

credits

About us

Project by:

Created by:

Directors:

2019-2024 Aureli Mora i Omar Ornaque

Documental Commission:

2019-2024 Ramon Faura Carolina B. Garcia Eduard Callís Francesc Rafat Pau Albert Antoni López Daufí Joan Falgueras Mercè Bosch Jaume Farreny Anton Pàmies Juan Manuel Zaguirre Josep Ferrando Fernando Marzá Moisés Puente Aureli Mora Omar Ornaque

Collaborators:

2019-2024 Lluis Andreu Sergi Ballester Maria Jesús Quintero Lucía M. Villodres Montse Viu

External Collaborators:

2019-2024 Helena Cepeda Inès Martinel

With the support of:

Generalitat de Catalunya. Departament de Cultura

Collaborating Entities:

ArquinFAD

 

Fundació Mies van der Rohe

 

Fundación DOCOMOMO Ibérico

 

Basílica de la Sagrada Família

 

Museu del Disseny de Barcelona

 

Fomento

 

AMB

 

EINA Centre Universitari de Disseny i Art de Barcelona

 

IEFC

 

Fundació Domènench Montaner.

Design & Development:

edittio Nubilum
Suggestions

Suggestion box

Request the image

We kindly invite you to help us improve the dissemination of Catalan architecture through this space. Here you can propose works and provide or amend information on authors, photographers and their work, along with adding comments. The Documentary Commission will analyze all data. Please do only fill in the fields you deem necessary to add or amend the information.

The Arxiu Històric del Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya is one of the most important documentation centers in Europe, which houses the professional collections of more than 180 architects whose work is fundamental to understanding the history of Catalan architecture. By filling this form, you can request digital copies of the documents for which the Arxiu Històric del Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya manages the exploitation of the author's rights, as well as those in the public domain. Once the application has been made, the Arxiu Històric del Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya will send you an approximate budget, which varies in terms of each use and purpose.

Detail:

* If the memory has known authorship or rights, cite them in the field above 'Comments' .

Remove * If the photographs has known authorship or rights, cite them in the field above 'Comments'.
You can attach up to 5 files of up to 10 MB each.

Informació bàsica de protecció de dades

Responsable del tractament: Col·legi d Arquitectes de Catalunya 'COAC'
Finalitat del tractament: Tramitar la sol·licitud de còpies digitals dels documents dels quals l’Arxiu Històric del COAC gestiona els drets d'explotació dels autors, a més d'aquells que es trobin en domini públic.
Legitimació del tractament: El seu consentiment per tractar les seves dades personals.
Destinatari de cessions o transferències: El COAC no realitza cessions o transferències internacionals de dades personals.
Drets de les persones interessades: Accedir, rectificar i suprimir les seves dades, així com, l’exercici d’altres drets conforme a l’establert a la informació addicional.
Informació addicional: Pot consultar la informació addicional i detallada sobre protecció de dades en aquest enllaç

In Pictures

  • Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

  • Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

  • Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

  • Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

  • Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

  • Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

  • Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

  • Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

  • Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

  • Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

  • Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

  • Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

Memory

Arquitecte. Titulat el 1882. Autor molt prolífic, ha estat un dels l'arquitecte amb major nombre de construccions a Barcelona ciutat, on s’edificà gran part de la seva obra. Realitzà entre d’altres, la Casa Roger Vidal (1890) , Casa Juncadella (1891), el Col·legi de Jesús Maria (1897), la casa Garriga Nogués (1901), ), la Duana del port juntament amb Garcia Faria (1902) la torre Arnús al Tibidabo (1904), o el Palau de Justícia amb Domènech i Estapà (1911)

Source: Arxiu Històric del COAC

Works (53)

On the Map

Awarded
Cataloged
Disappeared
All works

Constellation

Chronology (56)

  1. Antoni Roger House

    Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

    Antoni Roger House

    The building is located on the block of houses bounded by Casp, Bailèn, Girona and Ausiàs Marc Streets, opening its façade to the corner created by the last two streets. Located on a polygonal plot - the result of its chamfered arrangement-, it has a regular floor plan with outbuildings organised around several interior or open-air courtyards. It consists of five levels: ground floor, mezzanine, main floor and two more landings, all covered by a passable flat roof. This large building is part of a construction type very common at the end of the 19th century, the houses of the upper bourgeoisie on the right side of the Eixample. Built within Eclecticism, but with clear classicist inspiration, it is one of the first works of the Barcelona architect Enric Sagnier. The ground floor is laid out almost like a basement, where the main access portal to the interior of the building is located, other doors from former commercial spaces, now closed for offices, and several windows on two levels. The main door opens on the chamfer and is perfectly delimited by large ashlar pilasters that frame it and which, together with the corbels that crown it and support the main balcony, constitute the only remarkable decoration on this level. These corbels are decorated with vegetal motifs with very sober lines and present on each side two elements that, like a shield, present in the central part two letters "A" and "R" corresponding to the initials of the developer of the property: Antoni Rogent. However, above these there are two bands or strips arranged diagonally where the date of construction of the building, "1888", is recorded. This ground floor, as already mentioned, has three levels of height, corresponding to the ground floor itself, a basement and a mezzanine that opens onto the street with small windows with convex depressed arch lintels that rests on uprights that imitate half-columns of fluted wood. The rest of the upper levels are clearly differentiated from this lower body through a cornice created by the overhangs of the balconies on the main floor that are arranged from side to side of the façade. This main floor combines several types of balconies, in cantilever and stone railing (in the chamfer), flanked with stone railing (on either side of the central balcony of the chamfer) and flanked with iron railing (on the façade open to Ausiàs Marc). Given the existence of three pediments corresponding to the adaptation of the property to the chamfer, there are two types of windows; the ones in the corner, with richly sculpted lintels with vegetal motifs, framed by pilasters and crowned by an entablature with a smooth central shield and those on the façades facing Girona and Ausiàs Marc Streets. These latter are simpler with a smooth entablature that rests on columns that make up the uprights of the window. This model varies slightly on the sides of the chamfer façade, which is delimited by two elements of semicircular plan and towered structure that give plasticity to the intersection of the three pediments. These vertical bodies are finished with a crowning of battlements which - together with the two upper levels - complete the decorative sobriety of the whole. As for the second floor, the windows recover the medieval model of crown windows with handle but with decorative lines adapted to the architectural trend of the end of the 19th century. The lintel is framed by a kind of pilasters that extend towards the upper floor, where a gallery of windows develops between fluted shaft pilasters. Above this floor there is a space that corresponds to the area of "dead ceiling partitions" that allow the development of the upper Catalan roof (flat roof). This body makes it possible to create a kind of decorative strip on the façade that is decorated with florets and openings on the chamfer and the side façades with a border of classicist lines. As for the interior of the complex, the entrance is through a polygonal hall of great dimensions and height. Access is made to a first hall with a coffered ceiling that is separated from the large central hall through tall pilasters with a plant capital (in the form of a tax). The large central space is covered by a circular skylight and stands out especially for the cantilevered gallery with iron railing that surrounds the space and is accessed via the monumental staircase on one side of the hall. On the second floor, the former main floor of the estate, the gallery with columns, much of the hydraulic flooring, the original carpentry and some plaster ceilings are still preserved. The building is currently home to the School of Public Administration of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya) and each level has been adapted to the needs of the centre. Thus, the registry, the library and the meeting room are located on the ground floor. On the main floor several classrooms and two spaces known as the "Blue Room" and the "Council Room" are located. On the other levels there are more classrooms and the cafeteria. The so-called Blue Room is currently located on the second floor of the School of Public Administration of Catalonia, originally the main building. This rectangular space still retains much of the decoration of the original architectural project, such as the wooden ceiling with rounded corners that presents panels painted with landscape decoration of orientalist influence. The room has four double-leaf wooden doors - two on each of the longer sides - and is presided over by a pink marble fireplace with distinctly classicist lines. One of these doors communicates with a small corridor that leads to a small space that functions as a distributor of a series of spaces around it. This space is particularly notable for the magnificent plaster ceiling with moldings and plant elements that are inscribed on a beige background. The Council Room is another of the preserved spaces of the old main floor of the house, where the molded and gilded wooden ceiling stands out, with two figurative representations inscribed on a semicircular background in the short sections of the forging. The walls, painted in a light shade, have a series of smooth panels framed by partially gilded wooden moldings that follow the type of decoration used on the ceiling. The hydraulic pavement has a rather complex composition that describes - within the obligatory geometry of the tiles - plant elements. The Roger family was the owner of a large plot of land that extended over a plot formed by Ausiàs Marc and Girona Streets. In 1888, two of the brothers began the construction of three residential buildings, commissioned to the architect Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia. Antoni Roger promoted the construction of two of the buildings, one at 22 Girona Street and another - the one on this file - located at 33-35 Ausiàs Marc Street. One of the most relevant elements of this building is precisely the solution of the chamfered façade as well as the original hall of the house, where the height and transparency are the most characteristic aspects. This building was one of the first projects of the architect Enric Sagnier, which is why it still has constructive and decorative elements that are part of the eclectic trend, although with a certain classicist tendency. At the beginning of the 20th century, this house was home to the renowned Granados Academy (later the Marshall Academy) of the composer and pianist Enric Granados, who lived there. On the façade of the chamfer, a sculpted bronze plaque, the work of the sculptor Borrell Nicolau paid for by the Royal Artistic Circle, has been preserved since 1918 - at the height of the mezzanine level - with an inscription of Apelles Mestres which says: "THIS HOUSE IS THE / LAST / WHERE / THE MASTER / ENRIC / GRANADOS/ LIVED/ GLORY OF THE / SPANISH MUSIC / BORN IN LLEIDA / ON JULY XXVII / OF MCCMLXVII / HE AND HIS WIFE / DIED IN THE CANAL / OF LA MANCHA / VICTIMS OF / THE TORPEDO / OF SUSSEX / XXIV MARC OF MCMXVI / THE "ARTISTIC CIRCLE" / I DEDICATE THIS MEMORY TO HIM". Currently and since the year 2000, it is home to the School of Public Administration of Catalonia, an autonomous body of an administrative nature, founded in 1912, attached to the Department of Government and Public Administrations of the Generalitat of Catalonia.
  2. Rodolf Juncadella House

    Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

    Rodolf Juncadella House

    Located on the stately Rambla de Catalunya, in the heart of Barcelona's Eixample, this is one of the first of Sagnier's buildings to enjoy international publicity: it was reproduced in 1896 in the prestigious Academy Architecture and Architectural Review of London, an honour also shared by the Roger Vidal house, built around the same time. Throughout his career, the architect was often linked to the Juncadella family, for whom he carried out several works, such as several houses in the same area and others in the neighbouring town of Esplugues (now disappeared), a pantheon in the cemetery of Montjuïc and the renovation of the castle of Montesquiu, in the Pre-Pyrenees. In this residential building, Sagnier offers us a typical example of his large mansions in the Eixample prior to the modernist explosion of 1900, with its severe forms, the powerful corbels supporting the balconies and the display of precious materials. The composition of the façade attempts to avoid the effect of monotony inherent in this type of construction by introducing elements that give it variety, such as the vertical strips that frame it laterally, the tribunes on the main floor with the columns or the diversity of balconies on the different floors. Inside, a covered courtyard contains the staircase leading to the main floor, which was occupied by the owners and was consequently decorated with rich mosaics, glass and woodwork. The four medallions on the upper part of the façade are the work of Pere Carbonell, with representations of the arts. In 1918, Sagnier himself added a floor to the building, where he kept the sculptural reliefs and added ornamental vases.
  3. Pascual i Pons Palace

    Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

    Pascual i Pons Palace

    Passeig de Gràcia, the axis of the modern Barcelona that emerged from the application of the urban expansion plan designed by the engineer Ildefons Cerdà, has a very singular beginning thanks to these two sister houses, which also benefit from the perspective from the neighbouring Plaça Catalunya, the city centre. As in other cases, they are two independent blocks of flats, for two members of the same family, resolved with a unitary image. Unusually, however, Sagnier gives the ensemble a purely neo-Gothic appearance which was normally only applied to religious architecture but not to civil architecture. In both blocks, the main floor was reserved for the private residence of the owners, with independent access via a staircase of honour; the rest of the floors were for rented dwellings, which were accessed by another entrance. The interiors were enriched with German furniture and contributions from craftsmen and artists, including the stained glass windows of the Rigalt i Granell house and the tapestries painted by Alexandre de Riquer. It was Riquer, Sagnier's colleague in the Cercle de Sant Lluc association of Catholic artists, who years later decorated one of the shops on the ground floor, specifically the one that overlooked the Ronda de Sant Pere, which was known as Granja Catalana (Catalan Farm). We do not know whether the architect was responsible for the design of this space. On the other hand, some sources of the time attribute to him the Comas shirt shop, which was on the corner and which in 1913 won one of the Barcelona City Council's annual prizes in the category of establishments. Severely damaged over the years, the double building was remodelled in 1984 by the architects Martorell-Bohigas-Mackay and Espinet-Ubach, who tried to restore the original appearance of the exterior, enhancing the urban impact while preserving some of the decorative elements, such as the staircase of honour, the stained-glass windows, etc.
  4. Dolors Vidal de Sagnier House

    Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

    Dolors Vidal de Sagnier House

    Five years after his marriage to Dolors Vidal, the architect undertook the design and construction of the family home in the centre of Barcelona, on the Rambla de Catalunya, where he built some of his most outstanding dwellings. As pointed out in Arquitectura Moderna de Barcelona, a contemporary publication edited by Francesc Rogent, Sagnier was able to express himself freely, without the pressures that another client might have exerted. We see, then, that the architect took ornamental elements from the Gothic style and combined them in an original way. The construction was carried out by the reputed master builder Josep Barba, who worked regularly with Sagnier. The sculptures include the medallions at the top, attributable to Francesc Pastor, and the image of the Immaculate Conception on the corner with the passage of the same name, the work of Josep Llimona. In 1906, the tribune on the main floor was added. A tribune with large windows overlooks the two upper floors. Enric Sagnier had his architectural studio in this building and it was from here that he organised his numerous activities: we can imagine the constant visits from clients, the feverish work of numerous assistants and the dense work meetings with the different builders, craftsmen and other collaborators. Unfortunately, we are not aware of the existence of any images showing this place, with the exception of the well-known photograph by Francesc Serra showing Sagnier at his work table, with a blackboard in the background with sketches of the façade and a column of the Tibidabo temple.
  5. Farinera Costa

    Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

    Farinera Costa

    Edifici civil. Fàbrica de planta rectangular amb cossos més elevats al centre i als extrems laterals. Consta de planta de semisoterrani i quatre pisos d'alçada en obra vista amb bells esgrafiats i estucats a les parets exteriors. A l'antiga façana hi ha un baix relleu al nivell del primer pis on hi figura Sant Jordi matant al drac. A la planta baixa hi ha dues portes tapiades. L'entrada principal es troba en una part lateral de l'edifici. És construïda amb totxo i arrebossat al damunt marcant la maçoneria, hi ha elements de ressalt de totxo vermell. Cal destacar les balconades dels cossos més alts, ja que les baranes dels balcons són decorades amb escultures d'animals (porcs senglars) i rodejats d'elements vegetals. Les finestres de la fàbrica són rectangulars i les obertures dels portals d'arc rebaixat. Fàbrica situada al carrer Morgades el qual fou l'antic camí del gasòmetre i circumval·lació. L'edifici en un principi es destinà a fàbrica d'embotits, com podem palesar pels elements ornamentals de la façana. Des de la dècada dels anys 1930 fins al 2007 va dedicar-se a la producció de farines. Actualment és la fàbrica de pinsos Costa, la qual només fa servir una part de les dependències que ofereix la fàbrica. Gràcies a una profunda remodelació, l'immoble s'ha adequat per acollir el Centre d'Arts Visuals de Vic.
  6. Jesús i Maria School

    Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

    Jesús i Maria School

    Throughout the 19th century, numerous religious orders - many of French origin - established themselves in Barcelona, monopolising education and attempting to counteract the trends towards secular education, and for this reason they enjoyed the support of the more conservative classes. It was not uncommon for these congregations to have a school in the urban fabric of Barcelona and another, more elitist one, in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi. The orders of Jesus and Mary, initially established in Sant Andreu del Palomar, where Sagnier built a simple school in 1906, had an educational centre in the city centre, in Eixample, where the urban housing and the warehouses of the prosperous textile industrialists were concentrated (neither of these schools longer exist). The Jesús-Maria school in Sant Gervasi, fortunately preserved without too many modifications (only a few windows on the first floor have lost their original ornamentation), corresponds to the usual typology of the school as a large isolated building in the middle of a garden. Although there is no shortage of examples of schools designed in the classical language, the most frequent is the neo-Gothic aspect, typically identified with religious architecture, and this building is one of the best examples: structured around a courtyard, it uses exposed brick with some ornamental stone applications. The original project called for the chapel to be visible from the outside, but it ended up being integrated into one of the four wings of the courtyard. In any case, it remains one of the most outstanding parts of the building. As he did in other churches, Sagnier used a common element in Catalan Gothic architecture: the roof of decorated beams supported by diaphragmatic arches running from side to side of the wide nave. Only the presbytery is covered with a pointed vault.
  7. Sagnier House

    Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

    Sagnier House

    Following a custom that was deeply rooted at the time, the Sagnier and Villavecchia families had summer homes in the village of Sant Gervasi, around a fortunately preserved garden in an area at the foot of the Tibidabo mountain, which was not to become part of the municipal district of Barcelona until 1897. The architect had already carried out some alterations to Lluís Sagnier Nadal's tower, but in 1900 the latter asked him to demolish it and replace it with a new building. It is a cubic block with lateral wings, decorated with a sober Gothic repertoire (the gargoyles projecting at a great distance from the façade stand out). According to the documentation of the time, there was a grotto in the grounds that supplied fresh water, and the architect was able to provide the building with up to twelve rooms, a private chapel and a games room that would delight the grandchildren of the elderly developer: the garden was a regular meeting place for the whole family, and a small circuit for a miniature steam train was even installed. It was the architect's youngest son, Ignasi, who built the aforementioned steam train in a workshop set up at home.
  8. Ferran Cortés House

    Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

    Ferran Cortés House

    The architect designed and built three identical buildings for three members of the Cortés family on a site on Rambla de Catalunya. Only one of them remains today, with a mutilated top part, but it still gives an idea of the Catalan Art Nouveau style adopted by Sagnier from 1900 onwards - it has been suggested that he was strongly impressed by the constructions of the Universal Exhibition held in Paris during that emblematic year - and which bore its best fruits during the first decade of the new century. The façade, painted in pastel green (although it seems to have been pink previously), shows, despite its small size, a repertoire of forms - similar to rococo - which Sagnier habitually used in his architecture between about 1900 and 1910, and in which plant ornamentation was of great naturalistic importance (to the point that, according to the historian Alexandre Cirici, this type of decoration was moulded directly in plaster on natural plants and then transferred to a definitive material such as stone).
  9. New Customs Building

    Pere García Faria i Monteys, Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

    New Customs Building

    Located in Barcelona's port area, the Nova Aduana is located in the expansion area of the new loading and unloading docks and replaces the old customs house, which was housed in an 18th-century building near the Port Vell. The new construction sought to monumentalise the maritime entrance to the city and, at the same time, to rationalise the control and valuation of goods. In this project, Sagnier counted with the collaboration of the architect Pere Garcia Fària, a specialist in the drainage of the city and an engineer in roads, canals and ports. The commission was formulated in 1890, but the project was not approved until 1895, after suffering many obstacles and alterations, as it was a public building controlled by the State and its layout had to be approved by the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. The building adopts an H-shaped layout, as the initial idea of the customs technicians was that goods would enter at one end, pass through the inspection room and exit at the other end, but in practice its use could not be so rational, due to the bureaucratic formalities. On the outside, the building has a monumental appearance, with certain echoes of Central European architecture, especially on the façade facing the city, while on the quayside the architectural lines are more sober. As in other projects, Sagnier avoids the monotony of the main façade by combining horizontal lines in the attic and vertical lines in the windows on the main floor, with the counterpoints of the two lateral bodies and, especially, the central core containing the entrance. This central body, where the inscription ‘Aduana’ appears in severe capital letters, concentrates most of the sculptural work and is crowned by a coat of arms of Spain and two large eagles, the work of the sculptor Eusebi Arnau, while at each end there are four griffins or winged lions. The chronicles of the time criticised the excessive proportions of these decorative elements ‘belonging to the fauna’ and the fact that the building did not clearly express its purpose.
  10. Arnús House

    Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

    Arnús House

    La construcció d'habitatges unifamiliars aïllats, tant en contextos urbans com en zones de vacances —el que en la parla barcelonina es coneix com a torres— va ocupar Sagnier al llarg de la seva vida, però per desgràcia algunes de les millors mostres no van resistir a les empentes de l'especulació i han desaparegut. Això realça si és possible la importància d'aquest destacat conjunt, emplaçat a la falda de la muntanya Tibidabo i àmpliament visible des de bona part de la ciutat. La finca El Pinar, situada en un emplaçament envejable, deu el seu nom a un bosquet de pins que va ser respectat a l'hora d'aixecar la casa estiuenca del banquer Manuel Arnús i la veïna cotxera i casa dels porters. Construïda amb bona pedra de Montjuïc, complementada amb esgrafiats i rajoles, la torre destaca en una prominència oberta als quatre vents. El conjunt mostra una rica volumetria en perfils d'acusat pintoresquisme; l'aspecte de les torres i les obertures trilobulades li confereixen un aire vagament medieval, mentre que la galeria remet a la tradició dels masos o cases rurals catalanes. L'ornament de la pedreria mostra el repertori naturalista que Sagnier utilitzava en aquells anys al proper temple del Tibidabo, amb rematades que simulen concrecions pètries o fusta estellada. Els interiors de l'edificació van comptar amb la col·laboració d'alguns dels artesans i industrials més habituals a les obres de Sagnier, com Carles Torrebadell a la forja de ferro, Antoni Rigalt a les vidrieres, Pujol & Bausis a la ceràmica o Joan Pujol al treball escultòric; els mobles s?atribueixen a Joan Busquets.
  11. Fargas House

    Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

    Fargas House

    Enric Sagnier's cosmopolitan modernism - inspired, like much contemporary architecture, by the French Rococo - achieves its best results when it forgets about specific models and looks for the logic of free forms. On the façades, the curve of its ornaments takes over the entire composition and, in this case, it even comes to configure a structural element such as the central tribune. The sculptural work on the ground floor fuses the vegetal decoration and the architectural profiling of the openings with a rougher treatment of the stone, simply roughened at the base of the façade. The convex base of the mezzanine windows is a resource that Sagnier will use in other works of the first decade of the century. The lobby tempers this character a little, although there is no lack of ornamental work (on the iron railing, the sculptural details or the sgraffito on the wall) that was often given to these semi-public spaces. Originally, the building did not have the current floors added. The tribune consisted of four levels that culminated in a cupule, on both sides of which ran a finial of florets. The fifth floor with low eaves and the last apartment are a sign of the densification of the city, although it should be appreciated that they respected the general character in the shapes of the openings and in the decoration.
  12. Sert López Houses

    Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

    Sert López Houses

    Enric Sagnier's links with the Tibidabo mountain were not limited to the construction of the temple that crowns the summit, but also led him to take part in the urban development operation promoted by the pharmaceutical industrialist Salvador Andreu on the slope overlooking the city. This prominent man from Barcelona headed the Sociedad Anónima El Tibidabo, which acquired the rural estate known as Frare Blanc, opened up a series of streets around Avinguda del Tibidabo and proceeded to develop it with high-class villas. Sagnier worked actively on this garden city, as did other modernist architects such as Puig i Cadafalch, Adolf Ruiz and Joan Rubió i Bellver. This complex, consisting of two similar villas situated on a large plot and attributed to Sagnier, consists of two buildings reminiscent of classicism, in a line that the architect developed above all from the second decade of the 20th century onwards, although we know that these were already finished in 1906 because the owners stated this in two requests presented to the Town Hall offices. The families, who were related to each other, belonged to the highest strata of Barcelona society at the time: the Serts were powerful textile industrialists (the famous painter Josep M. Sert came from their ranks), while Eusebi López Díaz-Quijano was the nephew of the Marquis of Comillas. The buildings were inspired by French architecture, in this case in a version close to the classicism of the lights. The practically standardised formal elements of the façades are articulated to give rise to volumes which, read in terms of urban image, aspire to transmit values of nobility and tradition, while the interiors are more adapted to domestic life and social relations.
  13. Cal Jepus

    Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

    Cal Jepus

    Edifici modernista construït amb pedra, on el més remarcable és la decoració que en relleus de pedra de temàtica floral, s'insereix pels diferents racons de la façana creant un ritme compositiu força dinàmic animat per les balconades de ferro forjat que juguen seguint una línia sinuosa. Destaquen també les dues làmpades que pengen de la primera planta i que són originals de l'època de la construcció de l'edifici. Promotor de l'obra: Josep Sabaté Tarafa, rellotger.
  14. Law Courts of Catalonia

    Josep Domènech Estapà, Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

    Law Courts of Catalonia

    La Barcelona del darrer terç del segle XIX va ser testimoni d?una ràpida expansió pel nou districte de l?Eixample, que s?anava ocupant amb habitatges i edificis públics. En molts casos, les noves construccions substituïen instal·lacions obsoletes de la congestionada Ciutat Vella. El Palau de Justícia és un d'aquests nous equipaments i pretenia agrupar els jutjats de la ciutat i la Reial Audiència en un nou edifici monumental que donés la mesura de la nova ciutat. Projectat l'any 1886 per Enric Sagnier i Josep Domènech i Estapà, va ser el primer encàrrec important d'aquests joves arquitectes recent titulats. El projecte anava acompanyat d'una memòria extensa on raonen l'elecció dels materials i les formes de l'edifici: consideraven que el material representatiu de la civilització moderna era el ferro però que la funció representativa de l'edifici requeria la solidesa de la pedra per expressar el pes de la justícia, i també creien que la societat encara no estava preparada per acceptar la utilització d'estructures de ferro a edificis monumentals. Per aquest motiu, van prendre una decisió arriscada i innovadora a l'època: deixar el ferro a la vista a la coberta de l'escalinata monumental i al gran saló del primer pis, però convenientment decorat. El conjunt -que es va voler organitzar d'una manera racional i pràctica- s'estructura en dos cossos simètrics, al voltant de patis, on se situen els jutjats, i al centre, l'accés amb grans espais adequats per als grans processos o activitats representatives. Especialment destacat és el gran saló anomenat dels passos perduts, amb un dels testers ocupats per una gran composició pictòrica de Josep M. Sert. Altres àmbits de l'edifici van ser decorats pels pintors Joan Llimona, Fèlix Mestres i Arcadi Mas i Fontdevila, entre d'altres. Exteriorment, el Palau de Justícia, un dels primers edificis monumentals de la ciutat, utilitza un repertori decoratiu que pren elements de diferents estils. Les escultures que recorren les façanes, amb retrats de juristes i escenes al·lusives, també van ser obra dels més destacats escultors catalans del moment, com ara els germans Vallmitjana, Manuel Fuxà, Josep Llimona o Miquel Blay. El conjunt apareix coronat per una estàtua de Moisès, obra d'Agustí Querol.
  15. Pompeia church

    Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

    Pompeia church

    En una de les artèries més dinàmiques de la ciutat, l'església de Pompeia encara contribueix a conservar el caràcter senyorial que va tenir la zona en el moment de la seva construcció. Pel seu emplaçament privilegiat, aquesta és una de les obres més populars del seu autor. Com passa en altres obres religioses de Sagnier, el conjunt —format pel temple i el convent annex de frares franciscans (caputxins)— està resolt a través d'un llenguatge neogòtic lliurement interpretat: l'església, de tres naus separades per columnes esveltes, reprèn aspectes de la tradició gòtica catalana, com la nau central d'arcs coberts per bigues de fusta (solució semblant a la capella de santa Àgueda, a l'antic palau dels comtes de Barcelona), mentre que la inventiva de l'arquitecte es fa present als capitells d'estilització floral oa les obertures triangulars. A la façana de pedra destaca el treball escultòric de Josep Llimona: un relleu a la porta i una imatge de sant Francesc d'Assís al gablet superior. Per la seva banda, el convent (acabat el 1915) és una mica més sobri, en la tradició franciscana de la humilitat, i combina la pedra amb el totxo. Consta de tres crugies, paral·leles a l'alineació de les façanes exteriors; entre elles i la nau lateral del temple es forma un pati irregular amb ornamentació de mosaic. Una de les dependències més destacades del convent és la gran biblioteca de tres pisos (els superiors arrecerats per una barana metàl·lica) i que rep la il·luminació zenital a través d'una claraboia. El 1936, l'interior del santuari va ser destruït i es va perdre el retaule major, amb pintures de Joan Llimona i centrat per la imatge de la verge de Pompeia, obra del germà d'aquest, l'escultor Josep Llimona (cofundadors ambdós, amb Sagnier, del Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc). El conjunt va ser reconstruït després de la Guerra Civil per l'arquitecte Pere Benavent, que va procurar tornar-li l'aspecte original a l'interior, encara que també va aprofitar l'ocasió per construir una cripta sota la nau central.
  16. Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

    Josep Maria Sagnier i Vidal, Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

    Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

    The highest point of the city of Barcelona, the summit of Mount Tibidabo, is crowned by the Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, whose presence is inseparable from the city skyline and, because of its location, is even a point of reference on a metropolitan scale. However, the complex, which consists of a crypt and an upper church accessed by wide steps, has never been really liked by the public. Tibidabo forms part of the Collserola mountain range, which encloses the city and separates it from the Vallès region. The idea of this natural wall that encloses and protects the city suggested the layout of the lower church, with towers and battlements, resolved with the massive forms of the Romanesque style, as a base on which the upper church, with its vertical Gothic lines, rises. The crypt or lower church has an excellent sculptural work on the façade by Eusebi Arnau, which combines the basic forms of Romanesque art with Baroque decorative details, especially the Solomonic columns at the entrance, and naturalistic details such as stylised plant motifs. The doorway depicts the Virgin of La Mercè and Sant Jordi and Sant Jaume. An initial project envisaged a flowery decorative repertoire for the upper church (known from old photographs of the model), but at the time of its construction, Enrique Sagnier, who soon had the collaboration of his son José María, opted to refine the forms. The land at the top of the hill was acquired by a group of citizens and given to the founder of the Salesian order, Saint Joan Bosco, on the occasion of his visit to Barcelona in 1886. He promoted the construction of a church dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, along the lines of others in other countries, such as the famous Sacré Cœur de Montmartre in Paris. The Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was built with alms from all over Spain. The work occupied the architect for three decades, until his death in 1931. His son continued his work and completed the construction in 1961.
  17. Rupert Garriga Miranda House

    Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

    Rupert Garriga Miranda House

    It is a residential building located on one of the city's main thoroughfares. It has a rather austere and eclectic façade which is is composed of a series of symmetrically arranged openings, using undecorated mouldings, against a background of bush-hammered stone ashlars. The most important dwelling was located on the main floor, the tribune of which stands out. This is where most of the Art Nouveau decoration is concentrated. This sober style is close to French classicism and gives it a stately air.
  18. Banc Hispano Colonial

    Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

    Banc Hispano Colonial

    The reform of the old city, which began with the opening of the Via Laietana, was a laborious urban planning operation for which Barcelona City Council did not have an adequate budget. It was therefore delegated to private enterprise: Banco Hispano Colonial provided the financing and Fomento de Obras y Construcciones was in charge of the executive part. Sagnier, as representative of the builders, and the municipal architect Pere Falqués, on behalf of the city, took an active part in the process, which required painstaking measurements, supervision of the rubble, delimitation of the new alignments and distribution of the resulting new plots for the future buildings. One of these plots is the site of the headquarters of the bank that promoted the development. This was the first building erected on the new street and Sagnier explored the typology of the office building, which was to set the tone for financial specialisation in the street as a whole where, at the other end of the street, a few years later the architect was to build the Casal de l’Estalvi and the Casal de la Previsió for the Caixa de Pensions (Pension Fund). In some aspects, the Banco Hispano Colonial building reveals the influence of contemporary Viennese architecture while at the same time demonstrating the possibilities offered by modern construction systems, which free the walls from having to support loads and allow large windows to be opened in the façades.
  19. Casa Antoni Camps

    Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

  20. Via Crucis de Montserrat

    Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

    Conjunt de grups escultòrics aïllats que des del més pur estil Neoclàssic fins a les últimes tendències escultòriques de l'abstracció representen cadascun dels temes del "Via Crucis" en les 14 estacions. Les peces originals foren destruïdes durant els primers anys de la guerra civil i posteriorment foren substituïdes per les actuals, obres de Margarida de Sant Jordi, Francesc Juventeny i les ja més modernes i estilitzades de Domènec Fita. Al final del camí del "Via Crucis" (vint minuts a peu) es troba la capella de la Verge de la Soledat. Entre els anys 1904 i 1919 fou dissenyat i esculpit el conjunt de les 14 estacions del "Via Crucis" del Monestir. Aquestes primeres escultures foren destruïdes en els primers moments de la Guerra Civil i més posteriorment foren construïdes de nou. Al final del "Via Crucis" hi ha la Capella de la Verge de la Soledat.
  21. Caixa de Pensions per a la Vellesa i d'Estalvis

    Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

    Caixa de Pensions per a la Vellesa i d'Estalvis

    The opening of the Via Laietana, a street running through the old quarter of Barcelona, led to the demolition of old buildings and their replacement by new buildings such as this one for the headquarters of the Caixa de Pensions. Many of the buildings along the new road housed financial institutions and, little by little, the area specialised in the type of office building that was then a novelty. In 1911, Sagnier himself had already built the offices of the Banco Hispano Colonial at the other end of the street, one of the financiers of the urban development operation known as the ‘Reform’. The Casal de l’Estalvi (with the adjoining building called Casal de la Previsió, built five years later) closes the perspective of the new street and benefits from its picturesque Gothic appearance and the solidity of the Garraf stone. Over the years, the branches of la Caixa in various towns in Catalonia, also designed by Sagnier, took up some of the elements of this first building, such as the rough-hewn stone walls, thus unifying the corporate image of the institution in a very modern way. Another outstanding aspect of the building was its construction with a concrete structure, a material hitherto practically reserved for industrial buildings. However, the material was not evident either on the outside or in the interior, which was lavishly decorated. Of the five buildings and two shops by Sagnier that won prizes in the Barcelona City Council architectural competitions, only the Casal de l’Estalvi (together with Ignasi Coll's house on Avinguda del Tibidabo) has survived to the present day. The plaque that was affixed to the façade in such cases is still visible; the prize was also an extraordinary prize. It was the third time that Sagnier had received the award and this earned him the gold medal instituted by the City Council. Over the years, Sagnier maintained a close relationship with the savings bank founded by Francesc Moragas and Lluís Ferrer-Vidal, for which he still carried out other buildings, especially for the welfare services of its social work.
  22. Ignasi Coll Portabella House

    Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

    Ignasi Coll Portabella House

    Avinguda del Tibidabo is the main thoroughfare of a housing development promoted at the beginning of the 20th century by the pharmacist Salvador Andreu and based on the concept of the garden city: it was a set of single-family houses of high standing, in the healthy surroundings of the Collserola mountain range. The blue tramway, which is still in operation today, crosses the avenue and provides access to the top of Tibidabo, where an amusement park was installed. In this area, the architect built at least eight chalets. This type of construction allowed the architect a great deal of freedom when it came to establishing the layout: the fact that they were single-family houses, located in the middle of large plots without the constraints of urban blocks between partitions, and with a generous programme of uses, gave him the possibility of experimenting with multiple variations in floor plan, generally playing with the grouping of rooms around a large central space, directly connected to the main entrance and with a staircase leading to the upper level. Ignacio Coll's chalet uses a formal classicist repertoire, with decorative elements from Spanish Plateresque architecture, and its interior also has a similarly rich interior design; but the most outstanding feature was the construction using reinforced concrete, which was beginning to be used in civil architecture. For all these reasons, the house won one of the prizes awarded annually by the Barcelona City Council.
  23. Concurs Anual d'Edificis i Establiments Urbans

    Award-Winner / Winner. Category: Arquitectura - Millor Edifici Construït
    Caixa de Pensions per a la Vellesa i d'Estalvis

  24. Concurs Anual d'Edificis i Establiments Urbans

    Award-Winner / Winner. Category: Arquitectura - Millor Edifici Construït
    Ignasi Coll Portabella House

  25. Casal de la Previsió

    Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

    Casal de la Previsió

    At the entrance to Carrer Jonqueres, Carrer Ortigosa and Carrer Ramon Mas, we find the annex building of La Caixa de Pensions per a la Vellesa i d'Estalvis (Old Age Pensions and Savings Bank). Both buildings, designed by Enric Sagnier, located opposite each other, share many formal characteristics. The Casal de la Previsió, as it was originally called, is a partially isolated corner building, which touches the back of the Palau de la Música. It uses white Garraf stone for the main façade, combined with tiles on the secondary façades, as does the Casal de l’Estalvi. It also coincides with the latter in the neo-Gothic language of the finishes, although it responds to a much more modern typology close to the new conceptions of office buildings. The main façade combines rounded walls at the corners and the central body with flat, high bodies with battlements, with a medieval aesthetic. This façade has sculptural ornamentation attributed to Eusebi Arnau. At the back of the building, corresponding to the streets Ortigosa and Amadeu Vives, there is a doorway decorated with reliefs that gives access to the part of the building occupied by large dwellings.
  26. Caixa de Pensions a Igualada

    Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

    Situat al límit nord del nucli antic, sobre l'antic cercle de muralles. En aquest edifici, Sagnier adopta ja els postulats de l'arquitectura noucentista, si bé encara és deutor del modernisme i de l'historicisme, en una actitud eclèctica. L'edifici de la Caixa ocupa una parcel·la gairebé triangular. De planta baixa i dos pisos, fa cantonada, solucionada amb un cos cilíndric en forma de torre, on hi ha el portal principal, en arc de mig punt adovellat, una balconada de balustres amb el balcó decorat amb garlanda en relleu, una teoria de cinc finestres en arc rodó, i un acabat amb barbacana p... Al 1909 s'inaugurà l'agència de la Caixa de Pensions a l'edifici nº9 de la Rambla General Vives. Al 1922 s'inaugura el nou edifici. Va ser la primera sucursal d'aquesta entitat d'estalvis després que el mateix arquitecte construís la seu central a Barcelona.
  27. Casa de Cultura de la Caixa de Pensions

    Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

    Casa de Cultura de la Caixa de Pensions

    Aquesta construcció es troba situada en un lloc privilegiat, un xamfrà del centre urbà, la qual cosa li dóna un gran relleu. És de planta quasi quadrada i consta d'un cos central, que culmina amb una cúpula a quatre vessants de pissarra, i les façanes laterals simètriques. En els extrems d'aquestes s'alcen dues torres no massa altes, coronades amb merlets i arcuacions de mig punt. El tractament de la façana presenta un eclecticisme sense estridències: les obertures de la planta baixa són de mig punt, mentre que les dels altres pisos són allindades; la construcció és amb pedra i obra vista i l'ornamentació, bàsicament emplaçada en les obertures, és amb pedra i ferro forjat, amb escultures treballades en la pedra d'inspiració gòtica. Fou construïda per l'arquitecte Enric Sagnier i Villavechia entre el 1920-1924.
  28. Arnús Bank Headquarters

    Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia

    Arnús Bank Headquarters

    This small construction is characteristic of an architectural typology, the single-family dwelling, which we are not always fortunate enough to be able to see: on roads of great centrality - such as Avinguda Diagonal near Passeig de Gràcia - the pressure of urban growth has condemned most of these buildings, which have gradually been replaced by blocks of flats or offices. The fact that this mansion is located at the junction of the Diagonal and a small street in the old part of Sant Gervasi may have ensured its preservation. As in many works of recent years, the architect, ensconced in the comfort of a French-rooted classicism, was somewhat unconcerned with decorative details in order to concentrate on resolving other aspects of the construction, such as the desire to find a comfortable interior layout and to optimise the use of the site.

Archive

  • Cartell promocional de la construcció de l'edifici de la Caixa de Pensions per a la Vellesa i d'Estalvis.

    Drawing

    Cartell promocional de la construcció de l'edifici de la Caixa de Pensions per a la Vellesa i d'Estalvis.

    Arxiu Històric del COAC

Bibliography (39)

Routes & Notes (2)

Bústia suggeriments

Ajuda’ns a millorar el web i el seu contingut. Proposa’ns obres, aporta o esmena informació sobre obres, autors i fotògrafs, o comenta’ns el què penses. Participa!