This autumn, after almost a year of renovation delays, the first house designed by Antoni Gaudí will open as a museum. Now synonymous with the city of Barcelona, Gaudí was just beginning to make a name for himself in 1883, having recently taken over the design of the Sagrada Família. It was against this backdrop that the architect was commissioned to design a summer residence for the broker Manuel Vicens i Montaner. Built in Gràcia on a patch of land that the wealthy Catalan had inherited from his mother, Casa Vicens was constructed over a two-year period and was completed in 1885.
At first glance, the bright colours and exotic turrets of Casa Vicens bear a closer resemblance to the Moorish architecture of Granada and Sevilla than to traditional notions of Gaudí’s style. This is because Casa Vicens is an example of work from the architect’s so-called ‘orientalist period’. In 1883, Gaudí was still fresh out of his studies at the Escola Provincial d’Arquitectura de Barcelona, where he had spent time examining the architectural style of buildings in Morocco, India and southern Spain. The influence that this had on Casa Vicens is obvious, from the elaborate tilework adorning the building’s facade to the minarets on the roof.
The building has undergone a number of changes in the 132 years since its completion—at one point even being divided into three individual residences. Yet despite its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site (as of 2005), Casa Vicens’s use was entirely residential until it was acquired by MoraBanc in 2014. The extensive restoration project taken on by the Andorran bank has been a delicate balance, aiming to make the site suitable for public use while preserving Gaudí’s original design. One of the most complex parts of this project was the restoration of 34 works of art by the Catalan artist Francesc Torrescassana i Sallarés. The laborious process carried out to restore the collection, commissioned by Vicens himself, included individually cleaning, retouching and remounting each of the pieces.
So what can visitors expect from Casa Vicens when it finally opens? Tours of the house will highlight notable design features, such as the use of tiles and iron, the brick ornamentation on the front facade, and the horseshoe-shaped staircase and arches inside. Meanwhile, the house’s permanent exhibition is set to centre around three topics: the history of the house, Casa Vicens’s status among Gaudí’s body of work, and the house within its social, cultural and artistic context. The museum also promises to hold temporary exhibitions as well as educational and cultural activities for the whole family.
For more information, visit casavicens.org.