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In this first stage, the catalogue focuses on the modern and contemporary architecture designed and built between 1832 –year of construction of the first industrial chimney in Barcelona that we establish as the beginning of modernity– until today.

The project is born to make the architecture more accessible both to professionals and to the citizens through a website that is going to be updated and extended. Contemporary works of greater general interest will be incorporated, always with a necessary historical perspective, while gradually adding works from our past, with the ambitious objective of understanding a greater documented period.

The collection feeds from multiple sources, mainly from the generosity of architectural and photographic studios, as well as the large amount of excellent historical and reference editorial projects, such as architectural guides, magazines, monographs and other publications. It also takes into consideration all the reference sources from the various branches and associated entities with the COAC and other collaborating entities related to the architectural and design fields, in its maximum spectrum.

Special mention should be made of the incorporation of vast documentation from the COAC Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.

The rigour and criteria for selection of the works has been stablished by a Documental Commission, formed by the COAC’s Culture Spokesperson, the director of the COAC Historical Archive, the directors of the COAC Digital Archive, and professionals and other external experts from all the territorial sections that look after to offer a transversal view of the current and past architectural landscape around the territory.

The determination of this project is to become the largest digital collection about Catalan architecture; a key tool of exemplar information and documentation about architecture, which turns into a local and international referent, for the way to explain and show the architectural heritage of a territory.

Aureli Mora i Omar Ornaque
Directors arquitecturacatalana.cat

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About us

Project by:

Created by:

Directors:

2019-2024 Aureli Mora i Omar Ornaque

Documental Commission:

2019-2024 Ramon Faura Carolina B. Garcia Francesc Rafat Antoni López Daufí Joan Falgueras Anton Pàmies Mercè Bosch Josep Ferrando Fernando Marzá Aureli Mora Omar Ornaque

External Collaborators:

2019-2024 Lluis Andreu Sergi Ballester Helena Cepeda Inès Martinel Maria Jesús Quintero

With the support of:

Generalitat de Catalunya. Departament de Cultura

Collaborating Entities:

ArquinFAD

 

Fundació Mies van der Rohe

 

Fundación DOCOMOMO Ibérico

 

Arxiu Mas

 

Basílica de la Sagrada Família

 

Museu del Disseny de Barcelona

 

EINA Centre Universitari de Disseny i Art de Barcelona

Design & Development:

edittio Nubilum
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We kindly invite you to help us improve the dissemination of Catalan architecture through this space. Here you can propose works and provide or amend information on authors, photographers and their work, along with adding comments. The Documentary Commission will analyze all data. Please do only fill in the fields you deem necessary to add or amend the information.

The Arxiu Històric del Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya is one of the most important documentation centers in Europe, which houses the professional collections of more than 180 architects whose work is fundamental to understanding the history of Catalan architecture. By filling this form, you can request digital copies of the documents for which the Arxiu Històric del Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya manages the exploitation of the author's rights, as well as those in the public domain. Once the application has been made, the Arxiu Històric del Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya will send you an approximate budget, which varies in terms of each use and purpose.

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Memory

Renovation of an old medieval building between partitions with a roof on two sides. The lower part of the building is of ashlar and the upper part of brick. From the façade, a balcony stands out with two very complex arches supported by helical columns and a stone tracery sill; the balcony is supported by large corbels and brackets. Below the balcony, there are two ogival arch entrance doors. The rest of the windows, with the thresholds, present various solutions within a Gothic Revival taste. The building is crowned by a large eave supported by panels and ceramics between them. In the northern part there is a polygonal tower with the clock. On the other side, there is a pinnacle supported by a female sculpture.

The Town Hall is in Plaça de la Porxada, the main public space in Granollers, where the traditional Thursday market takes place. In its surroundings, there are medieval and Renaissance buildings.

It belongs to the network of constructions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries; a time of great economic and constructive activity at the time when the city grew looking for ways of communication, creating the Eixample.

Source: Inventari del Patrimoni Arquitectònic de Catalunya (IPAC)

Building between partitions. It has a ground floor, two landings and a gable roof. There is a limestone façade on the first floor and the rest is stuccoed with brickwork. On the ground floor, there are pointed stone arches in the entrance portals and the imposts are at the level of the capital that connects to the awning of the twin window with a sinuous arch. On the ground floor, the balcony-gallery with sinuous profile arches supported by helical columns, the tracery railing and the slab supported by corbels are particularly noteworthy. Two corbels link with the pointed arches and with the crown window of lobed arch with awning and foliage. The façade is crowned with a powerful barbican with ceramic reliefs between corbels, limited to the north by an octagonal tower finished with a tracery railing and pinnacles, which contains the clock, and to the south by a slender pinnacle supported by a corbel with a female figure. The formal and decorative elements (thresholds, openings, balcony) are Gothic, the work of Josep M. Barnadas, which provide a neo-Gothic character to the complex (CUSPINERA et alíí, 2001; PATRIMONI, 1985).

Throughout the medieval period, Granollers changed its jurisdiction (royal or manorial) depending on the political interests of each moment. In the moments when it belonged to the royal domain, the town obtained privileges that favoured its municipal organisation, such as the exclusivity of royal justice (1219), the election of a bailiff, the election of four juries (1356) and the imposition of municipal taxes (1366) linked to the construction of the wall. In 1418 Granollers passed definitively into royal power and suffered from 1500, with the establishment of the sortition, several privileges strengthened the autonomy of the town, which prepared for Granollers’ best era, the 16th century (GRANOLLERS, 2001). The 16th century has been defined as the "golden century" of Granollers. The University council provided, among other things, the gold needed to gild the silver parish cross built by Gracià Ferris in Barcelona in 1561; also, several liturgical vestments were acquired, as well as furniture, a new bell and organ; 200 ducats were given to the crown for the conquest of Algiers and Bugia, men were sent to Perpignan to help with the fortification of that town, financial aid was given to support several convents and the gates and towers of the wall were reformed. The privilege of minting currency was also renewed, and the town was empowered to organise the supply of large crops to the term in order to ensure the needs of the town and the requests of Barcelona and others. At that time, it is said that Granollers had 500 houses and that there were many merchants and a notary, as well as other people who lived on their income. In 1716 it is recorded that the population had 1,359 inhabitants with 337 inhabited houses and 82 uninhabited (BAULIES, 1965). In the 16th century, Granollers had grown considerably, becoming the most important commercial centre in much of Catalonia, with its Thursday fair. The inhabitants of Granollers practiced trades and provided their services to the farmers of municipalities in a good radius around. Almost all the inhabitants belonged to a confraternity, under which the various trades were grouped (SESÉ, 1987a). In the 16th century, Granollers outgrew its medieval walls, extending along Corró and Barcelona Streets. It meant the triumph of craftsmen and the increase in the power of the cities and royalty. At this time the town of Granollers was able to build the Porxada, pave the streets, build new buildings, mint coins and build a new town hall (1581-1582). This increased power of the City Council derives from the control over the market and the taxes it paid. There were the positions of Pessador, Mostassà or Palloler, which in 1584 would have its own building: "el Pallol", or grain store. In the beginning, the Porxada was thought of as a shelter for the grain market, since the City Council had a monopoly on wheat, and the other products were placed around it: vegetables in Plaça de l'Oli, legumes to that of Blat, earthenware to that of Les Olles, etc. (SESÉ, 1987a). In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Granollers Town Hall was located in the old prison (ESTRADA, 1993). The architect of its refurbishment, Simó Cordomí i Carrera, worked on an old medieval building located in the centre of the medieval walled enclosure and the old house of the Uyà family (GARCIA-PEY, 1990). The forging work was done in Can Guidons de Granollers (GARCIA PEY, 1990). The road replaced the Camí Ral in 1848 and the railway on July 23, 1854. The second railway line arrived in Granollers in 1875. The conjunction of these elements of communication made Granollers take a big leap and started the process of industrialisation without neglecting commercial and agricultural activity, although it was greatly diminished from 1885 (SESÉ, 1987b).

Protected in the 1985 PEPHA and proposed protection in the new PEPHA File. No. P-12. (Continuation of history) In 1787 Granollers had 1,737 inhabitants. In 1827 there were 2,796. In 1842 there were 3,032, reaching 4,702 in 1860 and 6,208 in 1887. In a hundred years, therefore, a spectacular demographic jump occurred, varying its appearance from the old town to one much closer to the current one (SESÉ, 1987b). In terms of political history, the third Carline war was particularly strong in Vallès. On January 17, 1875, 3,000 pugs under the command of the General Commander of Catalonia, Rafael Tristany, entered the Villa and looted it, destroyed the fortifications, the municipal archive and the Civil Registry books and they took the mayor, Pere Maspons, and 34 other residents who were not released until February 15 after paying a ransom of 175,000 pesetas contributed by public subscription and a municipal loan (SESÉ, 1987b) (TINTÓ, 1994). Public services had great improvements in the last third of the 19th century: oil lighting (1872), replaced by gas (1881), Post and Telegraph (before 1885), the Municipal Slaughterhouse (1876), the fire brigade (1878) and the new North Station (1886) and the new Cemetery (1894) (SESÉ, 1987b). Another war conflict, and concreted in the events of October 1934, brought certain destruction to the building, when shrapnel from the army that wanted to enter the Casa de la Villa, in addition to damaging some documentation from the Archive, it generates some spectacular damage to the façade and municipal offices.

Source: Mapes de Patrimoni Cultural. Diputació de Barcelona (diba)

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