This Catalan Art Nouveau house of considerable size is the initial work of Ignasi Oms. It is structured in different bodies. The whole forms a closed enclosure. The load-bearing walls are made of stone. The building has multiple façades; in general, the different sections are rectangular in plan. The roofs are gable-roofed, with a red roof and moulded eaves. The main façades have a ground floor and three upper floors, plus a possibly fitted-out attic. The openings are decorated with ceramics and wrought iron. At one end of the north façade there is a tower crowned with battlements, and on the south façade, at the corner, there is another circular tower, this one topped with a pinnacle. Also noteworthy are the numerous galleries, balconies and sgraffito work on the north façade of the Casal. The exterior is full of ceramic elements, stone reliefs, openwork railings and sgraffito with floral motifs, although the façade is entirely of continuous cladding, with the main door framed in stone, as is the fountain located at the midpoint of the body below the corridor gallery. The openings are closed with wooden shutters and some of them have undulating shapes in a markedly Art Nouveau style, although most are perfectly rectangular.
There are also a number of modern-built cutleries. Some of them served when the house was a restaurant and hotel. The caretaker's house has artistically executed façades that combine red, green and white ceramics and continuous cladding.
The house called Cal Noguera (which could have an ancient origin, at least from the 16th century) was acquired in 1862 by the Manresa industrialist Francesc Gallifa i Parera in La Seu de Manresa, which he had taken over due to indebtedness of the Noguera family. From then on it was known as Torre de Cal Gallifa, although the current owner recovered and promoted the name of La Noguera (the façade bears the sign ‘Manso Noguera’). The installation of the Gallifa family in Rajadell had great repercussions, as they were one of the main industrial families of Manresa.
The distinguished architect Ignasi Oms Ponsa (1863-1914), a disciple of Domènech i Montaner, and responsible for the most notable Catalan Art Nouveau buildings in Manresa (the Casino, the Slaughterhouse, Casa Lluvià, Casa Torra, Casa Torrents, Ca la Buresa, la Florinda...) was commissioned by the Gallifa family in 1901 to remodel the house. In 1914, following the death of Ignasi Oms, the Valencian architect Marcel·lí Coquillat (Elche, 1865 - Busot 1924), who studied at the Barcelona School of Architecture, took charge of the work. The works were carried out between 1901 and 1920. Ignasi Oms planned the renovation of the ancestral home, to which he attached a new building with a ground floor and two storeys, with a basilica section, large windows and a two-storey circular tower at the right end of the south façade, covered by a conical dome. Marcel·lí Coquillat undertook the extension work in 1914-1915, modifying Ignasi Oms' original project and building an additional storey on the manor house. He also designed the corridor gallery, the sharecropper’s house, the caretaker's house and, finally (1922), the chapel; but always maintaining, to a large extent, the style and functionality marked by Oms, seeking to blend the architecture into the landscape and to take advantage of natural light and ventilation.
It is possible that the Manresa architect Alexandre Soler March (1874-1949), also a disciple of Domènech i Montaner, had previously carried out an initial remodelling at the end of the 19th century, with gardens and buildings of neo-Gothic and neoclassical inspiration, before Oms' remodelling at the beginning of the 20th century.
During the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), Can Gallifa was reconverted into La Llar de l’Infant, where children who were refugees and/or orphans because of the war were taken in.
It is also known as Torre de Can Gallifa or La Noguera. It appears in the Catalogue of Country Houses and Rural Houses 2014 (num. 51) with the name of La Noguera (in the Catalogue of Protected Assets, which includes other properties, it receives the same name; according to this catalogue, it is BCIL and would also be AEA, Area of Archaeological Expectation).
Inside, the vestibule with its great vault on columns and the main staircase, highly ornamented with plant motifs, the richness of the floors, the woodwork and even the elements of the furniture are worth highlighting.
Can Gallifa and its natural surroundings constitute a residential complex of great architectural and landscape interest. The chapel of the Virgin of the Angels of Can Gallifa (sheet 15), built by Marcel·lí Coquillat, stands in a separate building. The Girada fountain, built by the Gallifa family, is 700 m south of the mansion and has noteworthy Catalan Art Nouveau elements (card 392).
Until recently, Can Gallifa was used not only for residential purposes, but also as a restaurant and hotel (now closed). Hotel and restaurant were independent of each other. The hotel was called Manso-Noguera and was luxurious. It had 12 double rooms (including two suites) decorated with antique furniture. Carles Pressegué's restaurant offered signature cuisine.
The manor house has 80.000m2 of garden and is surrounded by trees, with wide views of the tramontana. The doll's house is remarkable. The estate has a heliport. The Gallifa family sold the estate and since 2010 it belongs to the Tous family of jewellers.
The mill of Can Gallifa (card 123), located one km west of the country house, was built by Gallifa in 1910, as an inscription indicates. It was used to bring water to some reservoirs, and from these, the water flowed to Can Gallifa.
Since 2020, it has not been possible to access the estate. The description corresponds to the PEP 1993, the Masies Catalogue 2014 and other bibliographical sources.
Photo 2 is taken from the website Conocer Catalunya and photo 3 - which corresponds to the Torre del Guarda - is taken from the website Barcelona Modernista.
