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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.
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.
In 1906, August Font i Carreras was commissioned to design the Gracia branch of the Caixa d’Estalvis i Mont de Pietat de Barcelona. August Font himself had already designed the Caixa de Barcelona building in Plaça Sant Jaume and a branch office in Carrer de Sant Pau.
The building is located on the block bounded by Carrer Jesús, Carrer Sant Pere Màrtir, Carrer de Gràcia and Gran de Gràcia, where the façade opens onto the street. The building is inscribed in a regular polygonal plot and is developed on three levels of elevation: ground floor and two floors, topped by a rooftop.
Today, only the façade remains of the original architectural project, which consists of a three-storey rectangular façade and a five-storey tower attached to the far left-hand side of the building.
Built entirely of stone, it is notable for the presence of elements from the Catalan medieval building tradition, such as the mullioned windows on the first floor and the rooftop on the top floor. Even so, these elements are not faithful to the traditional forms, but were reinterpreted by the architect, giving the complex a Gothic appearance.
The tower, which has a hip roof, has a door on the ground floor leading to the staircase. It is a door with a mixtilinear lintel and sculpted mullions, with two female figures accompanied by vegetal elements on the imposts. Crowned by the coat of arms of Barcelona, the ground floor is separated from the next floor by a moulded impost, where there is a niche in the form of a window with an image of the Virgin Mary. The first floor opens onto the street through a window with a mixtilinear lintel and, finally, the clock face above it. The tower is closed with a large cornice on corbels on which the top floor of the building is built – a series of windows between columns form a continuous gallery that surrounds the tower on all four sides.
On the ground floor there is the entrance to the current offices of La Caixa, with a central doorway flanked by two pairs of windows with large arches on columns resting on a high plinth. This ground floor is separated from the first floor by a sculpted cornice on which we can read: ‘Caja de Ahorros y Montepío de Barcelona. Sucursal de Gracia' (Barcelona Savings Bank and Montepío de Barcelona. Gracia Branch Office). On the first floor there are three crown windows inspired by the Middle Ages, but reinterpreted both in the shape of the lintel and the plant decoration. Finally, on the second and last floor, there is a gallery that recovers the medieval and Renaissance style with mixtilinear arches on columns. Above this level we can find the eaves and the roof railing. The latter, with moulded elements in the form of battlements, is decorated with ceramic and iron elements.