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1848
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1859 - 1877
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1880
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1889
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Eduard Agustí Saladrigas House
The Agustí Monjonell family commissioned Domènech to build a summer house in Badalona in 1893. Eduard Agustí was a civil engineer and head of the ‘Sociedad Material para Ferrocarriles y Construcciones’, the metallurgy company with which Domènech worked regularly. The family must have outgrown the building, because in 1898 they bought the plot next door and again commissioned Domènech to enlarge the house. The building began with a rectangular floor plan 14 metres deep by 8 metres on the façade, which, with the extension, became 14 metres long, with a ground floor and basement. A tower crowns the corner, giving continuity to the two main façades. Domènech designed a single-storey building of exposed brick, topped with a stuccoed band finished with battlements and a wrought-iron railing with plant motifs. In the extension, Domènech maintained the layout and decoration used in the building in 1893 and finished off the corner of the new construction with a circular balcony of exposed brickwork. Inside, he also maintained the existing structure and added a spectacular skylight, in the manner of a courtyard of lights, which joined the two areas. In the 1950s (1950) it housed the Albéniz Institute of Badalona (secondary school) and in the summer there were courses to entertain the youngest children. In the 1990s it housed a motorbike shop. Nowadays there is a café/restaurant.1893
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1895
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1896
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1898
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Roca i Pi Nursing Home
The site was originally a fabric factory, as evidenced by the various exposed brick buildings, with two-sided roofs, in the general arrangement and in what remains of the chimney, converted into a memorial to the donor V. Roca i Pi. The adaptation simply consisted of compartmentalising the interiors of the industrial units and adding accessory constructions. The Can Gusi factory (Miquel Gusi's sons requested a building permit in 1899) was dedicated to the manufacture of liturgical fabrics. By the will of Vicenç Roca i Pi (who died in 1852), related to the "Sociedad obrera de socorros mutuos", this asylum was created around the second decade of the 20th century.1899
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1901
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Casa Matamala
Edifici d'habitatges amb planta baixa i dos pisos, on destaca sobretot els cuidats acabats de façana, especialment el disseny dels esgrafiats, i els balcons. La part posterior ha estat desvirtuada per una mala reforma els anys 60. Josepa Umbert sol·licità el 1902 el permís d'obres. "Algunes de les obre més representatives del modernisme d'Amigó s'inspiren en formes de l'art vienès anomenat sezessionstil" [A cada època el seu art, El Punt, 14 de juliol de 2002]1902
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School of the Marist Brothers
Building with semi-basement, ground floor, first floor and attic. It has a metal structure which is visible in the cast-iron columns protruding from the walls. The façade, stuccoed in white and pink with the framing of the openings and the balcony with floral motifs, is characteristically modernist. The petitionary was Pío Mir Matas. In 1901, Pius Mir i Mates applied for permission to build premises for the Catholic Youth, which according to the plans were to consist of a secretariat, café-bar, meeting rooms and assembly hall. The building, which was still unfinished – the assembly hall was never built and its place is now occupied by the schoolyard – was ceded to the Marist Brothers in 1903, and they transformed it into a school. It was rebuilt after the Spanish Civil War. "Some of the most representative works of Amigó's modernism are inspired by forms of Viennese art known as sezessionstil" [En cada época su arte, El Punt, 14 July 2002].1903
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Francesc Guixeras Viñas Cemetery
Grave with stone pit and iron elements that support chains. The decorative lines show Secessionist geometric figures with Gothic-Naturalist elements. The slab, located in an eccentric position, bears the inscription "Property of Francisco/ de A. Guixeras/ Viñas y familia".1904
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1905
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Surroca Pharmacy
The Surroca pharmacy, the work of Joan Amigó i Barriga from Badalona, is an important example of the transition from the Catalan Art Nouveau style, already deeply rooted throughout Catalonia, into a process of transformation marked by the foreign influences that reached Catalonia through events such as the Barcelona International Exhibition of 1929. The pharmacy was founded in 1878, but it was not until 1905 that it was installed in its current location, in the popular Carrer de Mar in Badalona. The first design of the pharmacy was also commissioned to Joan Amigó i Barriga, resulting in a typically modernist interior design: wooden furniture and ceiling mouldings with naturalistic motifs, coloured stained glass windows... However, as in other works by the architect, influences from the Viennese Secessionist movement could also be seen. Of particular note was the use of chairs by the renowned designer Michel Thonet, which featured engravings of lyres, typical of this movement. However, this design was to change radically as a result of several events. The first of these was the rapid advance in the world of pharmacy from the 1920s onwards in terms of industrial production, which reduced the laboratory space required for the establishments, but increased their storage. In addition, there was a change of ownership of the pharmacy from father (Joan Surroca Viñeta) to son (Joan Surroca Caritg), which also aggravated this modernisation. Finally, the main reason for the changes in the design of the pharmacy was the Surroca family's active desire to innovate, which was well known at the time. It was this restlessness that led them to take part in all the international fairs and exhibitions in order to be impregnated with the latest novelties, and it is what led Joan Surroca i Caritg to look at the French art déco style, exhibited at the International Exhibition of 1929. So much so that the pharmacist again contacted Amigó i Barriga, also known for his permeability, to remodel the current shop. The new design, completed in 1932, entailed essential changes, both spatially and aesthetically. As for the new layout, the laboratory space no longer needed to be so large and the back room was much smaller, which increased the space of the shop for the public; the counter still had a central position, but it was at the back, and on the two sides storage furniture was designed to occupy almost the entire wall surface. In terms of aesthetics, it is interesting to note how the desire to innovate and stand out, both of Dr. Surroca and Amigó i Barriga, led them to collaborate with some of the most renowned craftsmen and artists of the time. Xavier Corberó i Trepat, father of the renowned sculptor Xavier Corberó, was in charge of the decorative metal motifs that can be seen above all in the frame around the entrance opening and also on the door itself, while Pere Crespo carried out all the respective work on the glass. Another of these collaborations is that of the emblematic painter Xavier Nogués, who painted the tree that can be seen on the wall at the back of the pharmacy. All these collaborations, together with the architect's ideas, resulted in a very different pharmacy from the previous one. The façade, with a greenish marble finish combined with Xavier Corberó's metallic ornaments, has a more orderly appearance, but without lacking in detail, generally closer to a modern movement that was yet to reach most of Catalonia. The interior follows the same line – the wooden furniture is replaced by mostly open shelving, and the interior is covered using false ceilings and walls that in some points become more transparent, turning into translucent glass that in some cases is engraved and hides the lighting of the pharmacy. The first area of the interior, up to the counter, takes on a light, almost white appearance, which could be described as cooler than the previous wooden interior. This changes in the next area past the counter. The furniture, although equally simpler, is made of wood and the walls are also warmer in tone. On a back wall of this second space there is a mural painted by Xavier Nogués of a tree symbolising the knowledge of the pharmacy, with its roots piercing a book. This more organic painting stands out from the rest of the pharmacy, which is more sober and orderly, thus showing the transition from a late modernist and noucentisme style to an architecture more influenced by the new European trends. -
Enric Pavillard House
Joan Amigó belongs to the second generation of modernist architects, together with Raspall, Jujol and Masó. In the Pavillard house, modernism is felt more in the details than in the general conception. The house, with three façades facing the street, adopts a symmetrical scheme in the planimetric configuration, although the vertical arrangement is more daring. The two upper floors form a single body much higher than the body of the ground floor, treated with great simplicity and without ornaments. An iron and glass tribune connects with a balcony that runs along the three sections of the façade, with a very elaborate wrought iron railing. The facings of the upper body are treated with a stucco that imitates a stone carriage, along with ornate locks with naturalistic motifs. It is an interpretation of the main floor plan that incorporates Secessionist ornamental solutions, while presenting a very free solution in the general arrangement of the volumes.1906
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1907
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Bosch Family Pantheon
Pantheon of large dimensions. The stone base is decorated with vegetal motifs, coats of arms and images representing death, and encloses the burial chamber in the semi-basement, closed off by a wrought-iron grille. Side stairs lead to the upper marble platform, where there is a false sarcophagus, also in marble, with a Gothic structure, highly decorated with garlands of roses and wreaths, and a bronze crucifix. Lucía Costa, Bosch's widow, applied for the planning permission to build the pantheon in 1907. -
1908
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Gottardo de Andreis Metalgraf Española Factory Building
The Gottardo de Andreis Metalgraf Española factory building, popularly known as ‘La Llauna’, housed the metal packaging manufacturing and lithography company founded by the Italian Gottardo de Andreis in Badalona at the beginning of the 20th century, which was in operation from 1919 to 1980. In this building, the architect Joan Amigó i Barriga once again demonstrates the versatility of his architectural style, which in this work moves further away from the modernist style and embraces and interprets the style of the Viennese Secession. The most outstanding features of the building are the two main façades, the one on Carrer de l'Indústria and the one on Carrer Eduard Maristany. In the first, that of Carrer de l'Indústria, the clear Viennese influences mentioned above can be seen: garlands ending in volutes, the arrangement of the rhythms, and even the use of motifs such as the one repeated at the top of the façade, reminiscent of a musical lyre, are elements that show clear similarities with façades by Otto Wagner. The most relevant feature of the façade on Carrer Eduard Maristany, next to the railway line, are the mosaics made by Lluís Bru i Salelles, one of the most important mosaicists of Modernisme. These ceramic details represent the coats of arms of Spain, Sampierdarena (Genoese district, the company's place of origin) and Badalona. The remaining mosaic, located at the bottom, is not a coat of arms, but a representation of an erupting volcano. For the structure, Amigó i Barriga opted for a construction solution of cast-iron pillars supporting lattice girders, also made of iron, to achieve greater flexibility in the floor plan.1906 - 1909
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Anís del Mono Factory
The Anís del Mono factory occupies a block of streets formed by Avinguda Eduard Maristany, Carrer Mar Mediterrània, Plaça Rosa dels Vents and Passeig Marítim, between the railway line and the coast in the city of Badalona. It is an isolated industrial complex made up of different rectangular bodies or warehouses attached to each other forming several courtyards with mostly gable roofs. The enclosure is delimited by a fence wall with the main entrance on Avinguda Eduard Maristany, where the entrance gate is flanked by two moulded pilasters with a brick fascia and crown, which support the Anís del Mono sign. Next to the entrance gate there is another smaller entrance, a segmental-arched gateway with a dust cap. This hedge wall has the same configuration as the plinth along the entire length of the façade, with a band of recessed rectangles, and also has a canopy and a brick entablature. The building is the result of an addition of naves over time. On the main façade there is a set of different rectangular L-shaped volumes with gable roofs, except for the broken central body or mansard roof with glazed ceramic tiles in earthy and green tones. The wing facing the Plaça Rosa dels Vents is made up of two adjoining bays of different lengths, with a ground floor and a first floor. The façades of both naves have the same treatment, a constant plinth and a large opening centred and set back with respect to the lead of the façade that occupies the two floors. This opening ends in a pointed arch and is segmented by a series of axes: four plain axes on the ground floor crossed at the top by another horizontal axis that forms five small square openings and another four vertical axes or pilasters on the ground floor that are finished off at the bottom and top with staggered elements. The ground floor is divided from the first floor by two cornices that run the entire length of the façade, delimiting the corner angle and inside the openings, forming a kind of entablature with the frieze with four vertical axes that correlate with the others above and below. Above the arch is a curved moulding. The upper part has a gable forming a step in the centre. Between the two naves there is a polychrome drawing showing the logo of Anís del Mono (a monkey). The main façade of the central body has a single nave and a large glazed doorway with a medallion in the centre, at the top, with the logo of the Anís del Mono brand. The perimeter of this opening is delimited by pilasters, entablature and cornice that runs along the profile of the arch. This doorway is a large pointed segmental arch that is divided into three parts, with a wider central part containing a rounded arch moulding that acts as an entrance. This smaller arch has two moulded vertical axes on the inside that go from the impost line to the soffit. The gable of this nave has broken edges in different segments. The interior of the nave contains the distillery, a large room with a "Savalle" rectifier from Paris with a capacity of 10,500 litres in the centre, and on each side there are four stills of 1,000 litres each with their respective boilers on a metal rostrum. On the side facing the other wing, there is a trapezoidal attached body, consisting of a floor and ground floor and a flat roof with an entrance with a segmental arch frame and an opening above it, the solution of which is reminiscent of a machicolation finished in a Georgian arch. In the other wing there are two adjoining naves that maintain a similar configuration to the first, but they are only one level high and the openings are rectangular with flat arches. The upper part is finished off with two horizontal cornices along the façade that form a one-step gable over the openings. Inside the enclosure, at the back facing the Passeig Marítim, there is a brick chimney with a circular section and a truncated cone shape, finished with a simple crown made up of several links. In 1870, the brothers Josep and Vicenç Bosch registered the firm José Bosch y Hermano. Due to the growth of production and commercial activity, the company abandoned the old pot still in Carrer Soledat and built a new factory in 1880. In 1878, the Anís del Mono brand was formally registered in Spain. Initially, a wide variety of drinks were produced, including different kinds of anisette. It was not until 1907-1911 that Anís del Mono became the only manufactured product. The factory was built in two phases. The first one was from 1880 to 1922 and the second one from 1970 onwards. In 1884, the land leading down to the beach was closed off, while in the period between 1885 and 1914, warehouses and a hayloft were built and the interior of the rooms were renovated to accommodate the offices. In the early 1970s, part of the existing buildings were demolished to build new halls. The master builder who designed the original plans was Jaume Botey, stepfather of the architect Joan Amigó. The latter continued the works in 1904, as well as the different refurbishment and maintenance works of the factory. In 1922, the engineer Tomàs Flaquer took charge of the reorganisation of some of the rooms and part of the current façade. The last intervention, which was carried out in the early 1970s, was the work of the industrial engineer Ramon Vallrimbles. It is considered the most important aniseed factory in Badalona. The distillation room, foyer, archive and management office, in the Catalan Art Nouveau style, stand out from the rest of the complex because of their heritage value. Over the years, other buildings have been added to the original site to modernise the facilities and improve production. The distillery, which is still in operation, maintains the artisanal and industrial processes with which it originated in the 19th century. In 1975, the Osborne group bought the entire company. Currently, the factory, apart from the production of anisette, is also dedicated to the production of Aromas de Montserrat and houses the Anís del Mono Museum.1906 - 1919
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Can Casacuberta Factory
Industrial building occupying the entire block of the Badalona expansion area, measuring approximately 60 x 120 m. It consisted of 17 parallel warehouses, with a metal structure on iron columns. The most significant feature of this building was the saw-toothed roof, beams, columns and cast-iron braces designed by the Badalona industrialist Fèlix Gallent. In this design he also combined the Catalan vault to allow for a wider roof with zenithal lighting. On the outside, the characteristic design feature of the building is the profile and vague Viennese resonance of the end walls of the aisles. In 1992, the Can Casacuberta Central Urban Library was inaugurated following the refurbishments carried out by Antoni Poch and Jordi Moliner. Thanks to the 2007 extension by the architect Antonio Sanmartín, the useful surface area was increased to 4,070 m2 with the inclusion of the Espai Betúlia, a cultural centre dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of literature. Of the original structure, the interior space and the façades on Carrer Enric Borràs i Colom, with moulded fronts, have been preserved. During the 1920s, the former owner of the factory, Josep Giró, sold the building to the Barcelona businessman Salvador Casacuberta, who became Spain's leading company in ladies' and fancy woollen fabrics. After the Spanish Civil War, Casacuberta decided to sell the factory to the Bacàs company. In 1979, the factory closed and was later restored as a cultural facility. Antoni Poch and Jordi Moliner were the architects in charge of remodelling the building. The project was awarded the FAD architecture prize in 1991 in the ‘Refurbishments and Rehabilitations’ section and a year later it was inaugurated as the Can Casacuberta Central Urban Library with the collection of the former Sant Anastasi Popular Library. The 2007 refurbishment by Antonio Sanmartín was nominated for the 2008 ECOLA European Award.1907 - 1920