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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.
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.
Civil building. Hospital with an almost square floor plan, with a central courtyard and a façade that reflects Renaissance aesthetics and is covered with several slopes. The façade is marked by three vertical sections, with triangular gables on the sides. The portals are decorated with triangular pediments and the windows on the first floor have rain gutters. The central portal is decorated with a shell above the lintel, triangular pediments on the first floor, rain gutters on the second floor and openings separated by columns on the third floor, forming a corner on the left with a bell gable. Cornice without eaves. Although extensively renovated, the interior retains a Gothic hall. Of particular note are the pharmacy, inside the courtyard, and some interior roofs that retain the quadripartite vault structure, but most of the building has undergone alterations that prevent the original structure from being seen.
Also noteworthy are the preserved mosaics and the doorway on Carrer de Sant Pere, which, although damaged by salt, features a relief with cypress trees as a symbol of hospitality.
The interior staircase has a preserved 18th-century ceramic panel.
The Gothic hall of the hospital is a civil building with a rectangular floor plan oriented from east to west. It is large in size and forms one of the side rooms of the complex.
It is a nave of considerable length and is covered by fourteen sections with pointed arches and relieving arches, which rest on smooth lamp bases. One wall is blind and the other has rectangular windows, there are three wooden doorways and stained glass windows as closures.
It has been sensitively restored and given the body of the works whose walls are plastered and painted; instead of exposed stone, the ceiling is flat and the floor is covered with modern mosaic. There was a twin hall in this one but it has been transformed. Apart from the restoration, it is in good condition.
The hospital doorway is a movable element located to the south-west and faces onto Carrer de Sant Pere. It is rectangular in shape, framed by ashlars and a large stone lintel above the doorway, on which there is a high relief depicting two cypress trees with a Latin cross above them (it is very salt-encrusted).
On the left, it is flanked by a rectangular window with a beautiful wrought iron grille and above it an oval oculus that shows the width of the walls. This doorway leads to the old hospital stables, a large enclosure with vaulted ceilings and walls made of cobblestones and mortar.
The state of conservation is fair, although braces have been added to reinforce the beams.
The Hospital Pharmacy (1932-1933) is located in the hospital's inner courtyard among the other hospital facilities. It is rectangular in shape and consists of two rooms covered by barrel vaults, one of which is undecorated and has a marble sink and new flooring, while the other has decorations with geometric figures and a lunette decorated with paintings in the background (signed by Ll. Costa). The walls are covered with smooth tiles. The façade has a large lowered arch doorway with stone voussoirs and a small rectangular doorway, all decorated with stained glass and wooden frames. On each side there is a rectangular doorway with similar inscriptions and decorations. Above, there are windows.
Building at Carrer de Sant Pere 8:
A terraced house consisting of a ground floor and two upper floors, with a hipped roof. On the ground floor, there are two large windows with wrought iron grilles and, on the left, a rectangular doorway with a sculpted lintel. On the left corner of the house, on the Carrer de Sant Pere, there are large stone blocks that reach up to the second floor. On the first floor, there are three or four carved blocks depicting a fragmented and dated coat of arms.
The rest of the floors and the roof have been extensively renovated, detracting somewhat from the original structure. The state of conservation is fair.
It is built of stone and brick and plastered on top. There are parts of wrought iron and exposed stone.
The lintel of the doorway, although badly damaged, still has two carved cypress trees, a symbol of hospitality. The coat of arms carved into the ashlars on the left-hand corner is made of whitish stone and bears the following inscription:
PTI.MAX.HOC.CP OCAVIT 1680
It was founded by Ramon Terrades, originally from Vigo and settled in Mallorca, who bequeathed his property in his will (1348). Due to the plagues, the works were not completed until 1384. In 1441, the modest building (men's and women's hall) was enlarged with the chapel dedicated to Santa Creu.
Between 1538 and 1547, the current façade and the late Gothic halls were built. The façade is one of the few Renaissance elements preserved in the city apart from the chapel of Sant Just.
In the 20th century, some work was carried out by the architect J. Mª Pericas. Specifically, his Noucentista pharmacy, built between 1932 and 1933, has been preserved.
One of the rooms has been lost, hidden under the partitions and modern construction.
Currently, almost all healthcare services have been moved to newly built annexes.
The pharmacy still has 19 pharmacy bottles, a large marble table and many documents about the hospital, which are in a precarious state of conservation.
Some inscriptions have also been preserved:
NEQUE HERVA NEQUE HALAGMA
SANADO SED SERMO DOMINIO
DIEZES PROVIOEBIT
The building at Carrer de Sant Pere belongs to the rear part of the Hospital de la Santa Creu. Two houses had to be built on Sant Pere Street opposite the nuns of Santa Margarida, which in the 17th century was replaced by the Trinitaris Church. One of these houses was intended for women and the other for men.
Carrer de Sant Pere was the continuation of the old Carrer Ramada, which led outside the city walls through the Malloles gate. From the 13th century onwards, by order of King Jaume, this street connected with Barcelona via Carrer Remei.