Casa Vicens

This house and garden were the first relevant commission for Antoni Gaudí. It is a very imaginative building in which straight lines and right angles abound. Both inside and outside of the building, it is possible to identify Arabic influences, especially in the colours.

This was the first significant commission of the young Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (1852-1926), that consisted of designing a summer villa in the outskirts of the city. The project, carried out between 1883 and 1888 includes a house and a garden.

The house abounds with straight lines and angles, that were very unusual in the later work of the architect, but it is a very imaginiative building that is greatly concerned with ornamental elements.. Although part of a historicist style, it offers glimpses of those elements that would later make the architect the greatest exponent of Catalan modernism.

To build it Gaudi used red earth brick, plaster applications, works made out of wood and wrought iron, decorative paintings and an abundance of tiled surfaces (we must take into account that Manuel Vicens, who commissioned the work, was the owner of a tile factory).. Both inside and outside the building and especially in the colouring we can see arab influences.

In the garden that surrounds the building there was a waterfall and pond, but these were lost when a large part of the land was sold.