The building is located in a block of houses on Barcelona's Dreta de l’Eixample, framed by Provença, Sicília, Mallorca and Nàpols Streets. Built on a polygonal plot, it has three façades open to 238 Nàpols Street and 351 Mallorca Street. These roads create the angle of the building, with the most relevant hinge that, projected in a chamfer, houses the main access to the building.
This industrial building with offices is one of the best examples of Catalan architectural production of the 20s and 30s of the 20th century, not linked to the orthodoxy of the GATCPAC. It is characterised by its functionalist aesthetics of symmetrical shapes and marked horizontality, particularly representative in the case of the windows.
The building is designed from a structure of metal pillars and girders that allow the creation of a free plan where space and transparency predominate and to which the skylights on the roofs contribute.
It consists of two levels where the marked horizontality of the façades is particularly striking, accentuated by the body of curved windows developed on the two floors of the building. The windows respond to a model of serially manufactured metal openings that are joined to each other through "T" shaped profiles and to the building structure with other "L" shaped profiles. This system gives rise to the large wall locks that give unity to the whole and allow uniform lighting inside. These windows are configured as a curved element that rotates in the chamfer, while being interrupted in this front, where the large entrance portal to the building is located.
The chamfer is configured as an element of structural relevance within the set, not only because of the differentiated treatment of the openings, but because of the greater height it presents. Thus, the ground floor is reserved for the entrance, with a triple door that gives access to a double-height hall, which also receives light from the windows arranged on the first floor of this chamfered front. Above this body of windows is the top floor, where an elongated bay window opens that goes from side to side of the wall.
Currently, the building is quite modified. Towards the side of Nàpols Street, a hotel has recently been built (2010) - "Illa Myrurgia" - which takes up part of the original plot of the old factory. The chamfer side has also undergone renovations, and today houses the offices of the Puig company, which has owned the property since 2000. The ground floor of this area is now presented as a very open space which is accessed through a reception area located at the back of the main lobby. This area, in the form of a glass box, has two levels where the worktables of the Puig staff are distributed and which are connected by a new factory staircase.
As already mentioned, one of the most relevant spaces in the complex - and apparently the only one preserved from the original project - is the lobby. Access to this space is through a door with three openings that is finished with three bronze panels with reliefs depicting classical themed scenes and below which the sign "Fábrica Myrurgia" is preserved. We must also highlight the iron fence of the door which, with very purist geometric lines, contributes to creating a simple decoration, non-existent in the rest of the façade. Once through the door, you enter the hall, which is configured as an independent, double-height space, with a careful art déco design and monumental intent. This monumentality is made visible through the double-section marble staircase that leads to the offices on the first floor. Currently, two catenaries block access to the staircase.
The use of noble and high-quality materials such as marble stands out, which is combined with the brass railings and the wood of the handrails located on each side of the staircase. These elements, arranged at an angle, have a door and a bench - also wooden - attached to the structure, which are finished at the top with a window and a panel where you can read "Myrurgia Perfumes" in déco style letters.
The factory was built between 1927 and 1930 with a project by Antoni Puig i Gairalt; this work anticipates the modern and rationalist language through the organisation of spaces, the treatment of light, signage and furniture. The sculptor Esteve Monegal Prat was the one who commissioned the project, and it was he who founded the company Myrurgia in 1916, destined to the production of perfumes and cosmetic products.
The art deco sculpture made by Monegal, president and founder of the firm Myrurgia, which originally presided over the lobby should be noted.
In 1929, the building received the Architecture Award of the Industrial and Commercial Buildings Competition for being equipped with some of the most modern facilities.
In 2000, the company was acquired by the Puig Group, which since then has installed its offices in the building.
In 1996, residents and neighbourhood organisations mobilised against the project to build a gas station and a private elite sports centre on the grounds of the former Myrurgia factory. In 2010, the block where the estate is located was plunged into controversy over the construction of the building that occupies part of the factory's original plot. In those days, on the corner of Nàpols and Provença Streets, a building was built that was originally intended as a residence for athletes and which eventually became a four-star hotel ("Illa Myrurgia") and a gym.