Casa Botines

Casa Botines was built between 1891 and 1892 for two textile merchants, with a fabric warehouse and offices on the lower floors and rental apartments above, and it is one of only three Gaudi buildings outside Catalonia. It looks less like his later work than his earlier: a granite block with round corner towers, steep slate roofs and a neo-Gothic character that was meant to sit beside the cathedral without argument, though the sculpture of Saint George and the dragon above the door and the ironwork are unmistakably his. Local builders doubted the foundations and predicted collapse; Gaudi's calculations held. It served as a bank for most of the twentieth century and opened as a museum in 2017, with restored apartments and an exhibition on the architect.

History

While Gaudí was finishing the palace at Astorga, his patron Eusebi Güell recommended him to Simón Fernández and Mariano Andrés, owners of a textile firm that bought fabric from Güell, and they had him build a house with a warehouse in the centre of León in 1891-1892; the nickname comes from the surname of the firm's earlier owner, Joan Homs i Botinàs. In 1929 the León savings bank bought the building and adapted it without changing Gaudí's design, and it now houses a museum of Gaudí and of Spanish art (Wikipedia, Casa Botines).

What to look for

• The granite exterior - corner towers and slate roofs in neo-Gothic form.
• The Saint George sculpture - Gaudi's carving above the main entrance.
• The restored apartment - a rental flat furnished to the 1890s.
• The structural system - the cast-iron columns and floors Gaudi engineered.

When to go

Year-round; the museum is indoors and closes on Mondays in some seasons. Tours are timed and the building is small, so booking helps at weekends and holidays.

Good to know

This is not the Gaudi most visitors expect, with none of the organic curves of his Barcelona work. The museum includes art exhibitions that vary in interest. Entry is timed and photography is restricted in parts.

Nearby

Leon cathedral is five minutes away; San Marcos and the Camino route pass close.

Key facts