Casa Vicens

Casa Vicens was Gaudi's first major commission, built between 1883 and 1885 for Manel Vicens, a stockbroker whose family had tile interests, as a summer house in what was then the separate town of Gracia. It is unlike his later work: rectilinear rather than curved, with a strong Moorish and Mudejar influence in the brick, the tiled surfaces of green and white marigolds, the corbelling, and an interior smoking room with a papier-mache muqarnas ceiling. It stayed in private hands for over a century, was extended in 1925, and was bought by a bank and opened to the public in 2017, the last of Gaudi's Barcelona buildings to become accessible. UNESCO added it to the Gaudi listing in 2005.

History

Antoni Gaudí graduated in architecture in 1878 and, between small early works such as lampposts for the Plaça Reial, drew up the first plans for Casa Vicens between 1878 and 1880; it was built between 1883 and 1885 and is considered his first major project, in an orientalist style close to Neo-Mudéjar in which he first used several devices that would become regular features of Modernisme. He was working on it when, in 1883, he also took over the Sagrada Família, and the house caused a great sensation when it was built in Gràcia, then still a separate town with its own council (Wikipedia, Casa Vicens).

The main sights

• The marigold tiles - green and white ceramic covering the facades.
• The smoking room - a papier-mache muqarnas ceiling in Moorish style.
• The dining room - painted and carved decoration on walls and ceiling.
• The rooftop - Gaudi's chimneys and terrace with Gracia below.

When to go

Year-round; the house is indoors and open daily in high season with reduced winter hours. It is far less crowded than the Sagrada Familia or Casa Batllo, though booking is still advisable at weekends.

Good to know

The house is small and the visit takes about ninety minutes. It looks nothing like the Gaudi most visitors come to Barcelona for, being early and geometric. Part of the garden was lost to the 1925 extension.

Nearby

Park Guell is twenty minutes uphill; Gracia's squares and the Passeig de Gracia lie around.

Key facts