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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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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

Located within the grounds of Colonia Güell, it corresponds to a large building made up of a main body, plus others attached to the north, east and west. It has a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows on the western side. The main building has a basilica plan with a ground floor, first floor and attic, with a gabled roof made of Arabic ceramic tiles. The main façade faces south and on the ground floor there is the access door, made with a half-point arch defined by exposed stone dowels. The date 1692 is carved into the central dome and above it, in relief, what looks like a sun. Unfortunately, it is partially destroyed by the construction of the balcony on the first floor, corresponding to a later reform. Still on the ground floor and on both sides of the door, there are windows with wrought iron bars; the one on the west is larger and has carved crosses and rosettes on the lintel. On the ground floor, above the door and each of the two windows, there are three balconies with jambs and stone lintels with inscriptions. On each side of the lateral balconies there is a semi-circular arched gallery. Regarding the inscriptions on the lintel of the central balcony, we can read Iesus Maria and Antoni Solé, both names separated by a monogram IHS. The west window bears the date 1700 and a border with the monogram IHS, and the east window reads 1622 and a sculptural motif with the monogram IHS. Finally, above the central balcony we find the attic, where there is a set of five semi-circular arched windows that start from a running impost that collects them all. Still on the main façade, there are more items of interest. To the east, under the window there is a small, recessed sandstone basin, above a stone block which supported a spout with the date 1778, above which there are some illegible letters. To the west of the main door, there is a built-in bench with plinths with green and white glazed Cartabo tiles. The main door has a double wrought iron door, of medium height, which was used to close the access when the large wooden portico was open. Finally, also on the main façade, between the first-floor balconies are the remains of two twin sundials. The finishes of the chimneys of the main building are also noteworthy, with clearly modernist ornaments. The main body has another building attached to the north, with a ground floor and two upper floors with the façade facing the urban park of the colony. On the ground floor, the openings are small and without decoration. On the ground floor, a central balcony stands out supported on metal corbels with an opening with a lowered arch with a large stained-glass window. Both to the east and west of this, there is a balcony and a window with openings protected by dust covers. On the upper floor there are small openings under the roof eaves. The east side façade is open with six semi-circular arched windows that correspond to one of the galleries on the ground floor. The western gallery is closed by the side façade, as an annex is attached to it. The wooden floor covering the gallery room is in good condition. Forming a right angle in the western sector of the farmhouse, there is a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows with a gabled roof. It has an access from Plaça de la Masia, through a defined rectangular door of lime and stone lintel. Above there is an oculus that respects the central axis of the façade which is crowned by a curved cornice and has a belfry on the west side. At an angle to the chapel there are the facilities and warehouses with a dry cistern where there is a sun-shaped stone sculpture called "El Soley", which looks like an old sundial, but it is currently located in the shadow.

Originally the construction must have been a defensive tower, in fact in 1444 it appears as Torre Burguesa, and for four centuries it was owned by the Soler family. As can be seen from the lintel of the east floor window on the main façade, in 1622 Antoni Soler de la Torre undertook the first major renovation, to convert it, surely, into a three-story farmhouse, with a similar floor plan to which we have reached today. It is therefore plausible to think that the original construction had a large entrance in the central body, cellar, stable and kitchen downstairs, the room above the entrance, which distributed the rooms arranged on both sides, and the attic at the top. Antoni Soler was one of the leaders of the peasant revolt called the Barretines (1687-1689) and, because of his rebellion, he was killed on December 2, 1689, and Can Soler was ordered to be demolished and salt thrown in their lands. His son Antoni and his son-in-law, Joan Roure, recovered the building by special grace of the King. The inscriptions on the key to the vaulted portal "1692" and on the lintel of the balcony on the west side of the main façade "1700" refer to the period in which these two owners lived. After the landing order, the house was rebuilt or redone, and possibly the lintels with the crosses and rosettes, which are of medieval character, must have been reused and belonged to the old tower. From that moment on, the farmhouse became one of the most prosperous in the region. Surely in the 18th century and coinciding with the economic rise of the family, the chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows had already been built. In the 1740s the family had left the land in the hands of landowners to reside in Sant Boi and then, around 1826, settled in Barcelona. In the middle of the 19th century, the Solers began to incur debts and, in 1860, after the death of Baldiri Soler de la Torre i Ubach, his younger brother, Joan, sold the estate to the industrialist Joan Güell i Ferrer, when it was the most extensive in the area of Sant Boi de Llobregat. In 1890, Joan Güell's son, Eusebi Güell, began the construction of Colonia Güell on the grounds of Can Soler, which was surrounded by the textile factory to the south and the workers' houses to the northwest. Shortly after, Güell commissioned the renovation of the interior of the house to Francesc Berenguer i Mestres, Antoni Gaudí's collaborator, in order to host the family during their occasional stays. He erected parabolic arches, like the one that provides access to the chapel from the farmhouse, modernised the bathroom and the kitchen, and provided some rooms on the floor with fireplaces. He also renovated the dining room with wooden beams, a fireplace and wood and iron applications on the ceiling, from the centre of which hangs an iron and glass lamp, the design of which some scholars attribute to Gaudí. Then, the old Sorrows chapel worked as a church for the colony's workers, until the temple designed by Gaudí, dedicated to the Sacred Heart, was opened for worship in 1915. In 1892, Güell succeeded in segregating the estate, which at that time it was already included in the municipal term of Santa Coloma de Cervelló, of the parish jurisdiction of Sant Boi and united it with that of Santa Coloma. During the Spanish Civil War, Can Soler was used as the seat of the City Council. In the 1960s, the Güells sold the farmhouse to Teresa Farré and Pedret, and in 1998 Fèlix Sánchez and Janin Vacassy bought it.

Part of the interior decoration of the main floor could be attributed to Francesc Berenguer i Mestres. Among the buildings linked to the estate, there is also an old water mine that runs parallel to the Can Ros Road, also known as "La Masia".

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

Traditional farmhouse within the different types of the Danés i Torras scheme, with a gabled roof and a small eaves visor on the façade.

The date of its construction is not documented, but of the two dates on the façade, on the windowsills of the first floor, the oldest corresponds to 1622 and the other to 1700 and could be from a later remodeling. In the centre, on the balcony lintel there is the name: "Antoni Solé". This name remained even when it was already in Mr. Güell's possession; it was called Can Soler de la Torre.

The entire colony is built on the land that belonged to the inheritance of the farmhouse. In 1914, A. Gaudí completely decorated it without disfiguring its structure or external appearance. The chapel is on the right side of the house and next to it we can find the facilities and storerooms with a dry cistern where there is a stone sculpture in the shape of the sun called "el Soley" which looks like an old sundial, although its location is dubious, as it is in the shade practically all day.

El Soley

Curious sun-shaped sculpture that has been always associated with the Masia de Can Güell, but of which there is no further reference. In principle, the fact of having a hole where the mouth would be, makes you think of a sundial. In this case the current location would not be this one, because it is in the shadow. One could also venture a kind of improvised badge-coat of arms of the initial owner who was called, as it reads on the façade of the farmhouse, Antoni Solé, who gave the house its name, to such an extent that when the estate was owned by A. Güell was still called Can Soler de la Torre.


The municipality of Santa Coloma de Cervelló has traditionally been an agricultural area. Industrialisation did not reach it until Eusebi Güell installed the textile colony on the land he owned. That is why in the area there are quite a few farmhouses and stately country houses from the Middle Ages.

This is one of the most well-known. Originally called Can Soler de la Torre, it passed into the hands of the Güells at the beginning of the 19th century; however, it kept its old name until the cotton fabric factory was installed there, when identification with the colony, it began to be called Mas Güell.

The only previous references there are the dates on the windowsills (1622 right and 1700 left) and the name engraved on the one in the middle: Antoni Solé.

Source: Inventari del Patrimoni Arquitectònic de Catalunya (IPAC)

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