Thomas House is a work of the modernist architect Lluís Doménech i Montaner built between 1895 and 1898. It was originally a three-storey building. In the first two floors, an engraving workshop had been installed, and on the upper floor, the house of its owner. The façade of the plants dedicated to the workshop has the form of a large, lowered arch with a continuous stained-glass window protected by a grid of floral stylisations. The original façade of the house had an Ionic colonnade. On the roof there were two very imaginative bodies, one glazed and crowned with an iron crest and the other with a pinnacle supporting a large wrought iron sign.
In 1895, the publisher Josep Thomas, a specialist in the most modern graphic reproduction techniques who worked regularly with Montaner i Simón, commissioned Domènech i Montaner to build his house-workshop.
The initial project envisaged a semi-basement for storage, a mezzanine for offices and workshops and a floor for living space. It occupied a plot between partitions which were 20 metres wide and 21.5 metres deep. A large central courtyard, surrounded by a gallery, let natural light into the living spaces and reached down to the basement to illuminate all the floors.
On the façade, the lower stone level, consisting of the basement and the mezzanine, is distinguished by a large window opening with a very low arch, protected by polychrome stained-glass windows and a wrought-iron grille, which lets a great deal of light into the basement. On either side of the façade there are the entrances to the building, the one on the left corresponding to the workshop and the one on the right to the family dwelling.
The façade was covered with ceramics from the Pujol and Bausis house, with metallic lustre elements. The ornamental stone elements were by Alfons Juyol.
Both the façade and the interior were extensively decorated. The carpentry work by the Viladevall brothers, the stained glass by Antoni Rigalt, the mosaics by Lluís Bru, the wrought iron work by Cerrajería Flinch.
Later, in 1902, one of Domènech's daughters married the publisher's son.
In 1912, Francesc Guàrdia Vidal, another son-in-law of Domènech i Montaner, designed an extension to the building and built three more floors. This extension maintained the harmony of the ensemble and moved the cresting to the upper part of the building.
The former workshop on the ground floor and semi-basement was renovated by the studio PARA 1979 as a shop BD Ediciones de Diseño. It is still in commercial use today, with the Cubiñá furniture shop. The rest of the building is housing.
