Description
Passeig de Gràcia is the grand boulevard of Barcelona, running through the Eixample from Plaça de Catalunya up to Carrer Gran de Gràcia. It is the most expensive street in the city and in Spain, lined with luxury shops, grand hotels and some of the most celebrated architecture of Modernisme.
The most famous stretch is the Block of Discord (Illa de la Discòrdia), where three great architects competed door to door: Puig i Cadafalch's Casa Amatller, Domènech i Montaner's Casa Lleó Morera and Gaudí's Casa Batlló, with its scaly roof and bone-like balconies.
Farther up rises Gaudí's Casa Milà, nicknamed La Pedrera, the Quarry, a wave of stone with twisting iron balconies. The avenue holds many more Modernista buildings, such as Casa Fuster by Puig i Cadafalch and Casa Pons i Pascual by Enric Sagnier, and the Palau Robert of 1903.
Even the street furniture is part of the show. The ornate benches and lampposts, with their mosaic of colorful tiles, were designed in 1906 by Pere Falqués i Urpí.
It was not always so grand. Before it became fashionable, Passeig de Gràcia was a country lane called Camí de Jesús, the Jesus Road. It ran among gardens from the city walls to Gràcia, then a separate town.
In 1827 it became an avenue 42 meters wide, and all through the 19th century aristocrats came here to show off their horses and their carriages. When the Eixample grew up around it, the city's wealthiest families wanted their homes on it.
That is how one street gathered the stars of Modernisme: Gaudí, Falqués, Puig i Cadafalch, Domènech i Montaner, Sagnier and Vilaseca all built here.
During the Spanish Civil War the government of the Basque Country was based at number 60. It remains one of the great walks of Barcelona, as much for the windows as for the facades.
The most famous stretch is the Block of Discord (Illa de la Discòrdia), where three great architects competed door to door: Puig i Cadafalch's Casa Amatller, Domènech i Montaner's Casa Lleó Morera and Gaudí's Casa Batlló, with its scaly roof and bone-like balconies.
Farther up rises Gaudí's Casa Milà, nicknamed La Pedrera, the Quarry, a wave of stone with twisting iron balconies. The avenue holds many more Modernista buildings, such as Casa Fuster by Puig i Cadafalch and Casa Pons i Pascual by Enric Sagnier, and the Palau Robert of 1903.
Even the street furniture is part of the show. The ornate benches and lampposts, with their mosaic of colorful tiles, were designed in 1906 by Pere Falqués i Urpí.
It was not always so grand. Before it became fashionable, Passeig de Gràcia was a country lane called Camí de Jesús, the Jesus Road. It ran among gardens from the city walls to Gràcia, then a separate town.
In 1827 it became an avenue 42 meters wide, and all through the 19th century aristocrats came here to show off their horses and their carriages. When the Eixample grew up around it, the city's wealthiest families wanted their homes on it.
That is how one street gathered the stars of Modernisme: Gaudí, Falqués, Puig i Cadafalch, Domènech i Montaner, Sagnier and Vilaseca all built here.
During the Spanish Civil War the government of the Basque Country was based at number 60. It remains one of the great walks of Barcelona, as much for the windows as for the facades.