The Cal Bassacs textile colony is composed of the industrial complex — the group of various factory buildings arranged in alignment, one after the other — together with warehouses, spaces intended for offices, and, opposite the factory, the buildings constructed to house the workers. Within a large plot enclosed by a wall stands a small chapel; around the tower there are gardens and also a more modern structure. The majesty of the tower, besides presiding over the entire complex, also stands out for its size, its constructional characteristics, and the ornamental detailing of its finishes.
As for the workers’ housing, these are located opposite the factory on the western side, forming a street known as Carrer Indústria. The group is made up of buildings with a ground floor and two upper storeys, covered with gabled roofs whose ridge runs parallel to the axis of the street. They display a total of four doorways giving access to the respective internal staircases. It appears that the buildings were constructed in different phases; broadly speaking, the façades — except for the northernmost building — have openings on the ground floor framed in solid brick (door to the staircase, entrance to the ground floor and some windows) with straight lintels. It is worth noting that the building adjoining the one at the northern end has openings with projecting balconies.
Regarding the building at the northern end of the group, this one stands out for the regular arrangement of its openings, all framed in solid brick, among which the central first-floor window is distinguished by a differentiated brick pattern. In the building at the southernmost end, it can be seen that it is constructed partly with stone walls and partly with rendered sections, with well-cut ashlar cornerstones alternating with rendered surfaces.
At the rear, there are various types of openings: in one case, the southernmost building has only simple windows; the next two have galleries on each floor, with straight lines, while the remaining ones have galleries with openings formed by semi-circular arches, though with differing finishes and combined with windows.
The couple Raimunda Bassacs and Joan Teixidor i Ballús were the founders of the Cal Bassacs factory. The Bassacs family came originally from Prats de Lluçanès, where they worked as wool carders, later moving to Gironella, where records show their presence as early as 1717. By the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, they were involved in several companies devoted to cotton spinning and weaving. The Teixidor family, originally from Berga, were also documented as being engaged for many years in the production of wire and cotton fabrics; their participation in a company from Berga is recorded as early as the seventeenth century.
In 1861, the couple were living in Gironella, specifically in what is now Plaça de la Vila (then Plaça de l’Església), where they operated a workshop equipped with ten hand looms, a warping machine, and a bobbin winder. Records show that this workshop was still active in 1896.
In April 1861, the couple purchased a piece of land from Maria and Ramon Fígols of Gironella, at the foot of the river Llobregat, next to the Sant Marc bridge, and thus alongside the road. On 30 May 1862, Joan Teixidor applied to the Gironella Town Council for permission to build a flour mill with two millstones and a factory on the land they had acquired. Construction began in 1869, with works on the weir and the obtaining of permission to build a mill with two millstones and one waterwheel. The initial plan seems to have been modified, since the mill was not built and two waterwheels were instead constructed.
In 1871, they purchased another parcel of land; by then, records show that the factory already measured 158 palms in length and 14 in width. In 1872, they received permission to extract stone from the riverbed, provided that the remains of the Sant Marc bridge were not affected. To meet the capital requirements of the Cal Bassacs factory, the couple also purchased a house in Avià containing eleven looms, a bobbin machine, and a warping machine. Another source of financing came externally, through a mortgage with Antoni Manent Llonch, who was also the founder of the Colònia Manent in Puig-reig, among other enterprises; this debt was settled in 1884.
Records show that, as new factory buildings were completed, they were rented to small entrepreneurs. In 1880, Miquel and Josep Santesteban operated twelve and ten looms, respectively. By 1884, one of the two factories must have been fully completed, as it was rented to the Manresa company “Antoni Torra e Hijos y Cía”, which installed over 4,000 spindles and 94 mechanical looms. Another section was leased to Estapé Camps, who installed twelve mechanical looms.
One of the waterwheels was donated during his lifetime to their son Antoni, who put it into operation; the donation was confirmed in the will of Joan Teixidor Ballús, who died in 1891. At the time of his death, records indicate that both factories, as well as the warehouses and workers’ houses, were already completed. His heirs were his daughter Concepció Teixidor Bassacs and her husband Josep Fusté Teixidor. Their descendants continued the business along different lines. Antoni, who was in poor health, ended up renting the factory to other industrialists; upon his death, the property was divided between his wife Carme Vila Marces and his daughter and heiress Carme Teixidor Vila. The heiress continued leasing the factory, one of her tenants being Josep Sanglàs i Alsina of Manlleu, who was engaged in the manufacture of machinery for cotton spinning. His company became the first Catalan firm of this kind, employing some 300 workersin the 1920s.
Following the early death of the heiress, her mother Carme Vila inherited the factory and rented it to the company “Josep Fusté y Cía.”, whose relatives managed the other part of the Cal Bassacs factory — the section inherited by Concepció Teixidor (wife of Josep Fusté). (continues in Observations)
It should be noted that on the main façade of the workers’ dwellings, one building stands out for having two projecting balconies, one above the other. The ground-floor balcony has a wooden platform supported by timber brackets, while the upper balcony rests on metal joists with wooden slats, exposed wooden beam ends shaped as corbels, and an iron tie-rod. The balustrades on both balconies are simple wrought-iron designs with scrollwork decorations on the base and beneath the handrail.
Cal Bassacs is included in the “Master Plan for the Industrial Colonies of the River Llobregat”; the municipality of Gironella is part of this plan along with Avià, Balsareny, Berga, Casserres, Gaià, Navàs, Olvan, and Puig-reig (DOGC no. 4940, published on 3 August 2007).
(continued from History): Upon the death of Carme Vila, her share of the factory passed to Ricard Teixidor Masjuan, who in 1946 founded the company “Hilados y Tejidos Fusté, S.A.”. The factory inherited by Concepció Teixidor continued to be used directly by the family firm, “Josep Fusté Teixidor y Cía.” On 31 May 1914, the factory burned down; Concepció, then widowed, received assistance from the director Esteve Esparbé Garriga. Despite the disruption caused by the fire, production resumed, and in 1919 she leased the neighbouring factory from her relatives. For several years, the two companies operated separately within the Cal Bassacs complex.
Salvador Fusté, son of Concepció Teixidor, married Bernada de Martín i Llobet of Berga in 1920. Salvador died young, naming his nephew Josep M. Minoves Fusté as heir, who became the principal shareholder of “Hilados y Tejidos Fusté, S.A.”. It was not until the late twentieth century that the two families who had inherited the Cal Bassacs factories united them into a single company, merging both plants under the same joint-stock enterprise.