Torre de la Creu

It was built between 1913 and 1916 with the idea of establishing it as a summer residence. It is formed by five cylindrical sections in which we can find the rooms, accessed by climbing winding staircases. It has been declared an Asset of National Cultural Interest as a Historic Monument.

The original cupolas that make the upper part of the building, and which according to popular legend look like a handful of eggs, have resulted in the Creu de Sant Joan Despí tower also being known as the torre dels Ous (the egg tower). The building was designed by the Modernist architect Josep Maria Jujol, one of Antoni Gaudí’s co-workers. He was the most risky and avant-garde of the architects in terms of conceiving designs; he even played with expressionism.

The Creu tower is a good example of this creative madness. According to the architectural critic Dennis L. Dollens, author of the book Josep Maria Jujol: Five Major Buildings 1913-1923, there is no other building in Europe that is more experimental, from both a special and stylistic point of view, than this one.

The house was built between 1913 and 1916 at the request of Josefa Romeu i Grau de Gibert, Jujol’s aunt, who wanted to set up a summer residence here. The main part of the building is made of five cylinders of different diameters and heights. They all have a circular floor plan and they house the rooms. These rooms are reached by climbing a winding spiral staircase.

The unusual copulas on the roof are one of the building’s most characteristic elements. They are also different sizes and they are decorated with a mosaic in a wide range of colours. On the highest part of the building, above the eggs, there is a cross that gives the house its official name. In the garden, undulating, wrought- iron railings surround the land.

Originally, the tower was divided into two separate dwellings, but in 1966, the owner turned them into one. Creu tower currently belongs to the Sant Joan Despí city council and it has been declared a cultural property of national interest in the Historic Monument category.