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1840
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1847
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1850
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1851
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1860
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Hotel Les Quatre Nacions i Passatge Bacardí
Francesc Daniel Molina i Casamajor
El passatge Bacardí, ubicat al districte de Ciutat Vella, és un passeig cobert, apte exclusivament per vianants, que uneix la Rambla, a l'alçada del número 42, amb la plaça Reial. Aquest passatge fou construït a mitjan segle XIX junt amb l'edifici bastit en els números 40-42 de la Rambla per a Ramon de Bacardí, convertint-se en un dels primers passatges coberts de la ciutat. L'accés al passatge des de la Rambla es produeix per un portal resolt amb arc de mig punt. El portal està flanquejat per dues pilastres d'escàs relleu que s'alcen fins a l'alçada de l'inici de l'arc. A aquesta alçada s'hi emplacen sengles impostes de les quals es reinicien novament les pilastres fins a arribar a les mènsules de la balconada situada just sobre l'entrada al passatge. La porta pot ser tancada mitjançant una reixa de ferro forjat de la qual la part de l'arc és fixa i ornada amb motius geomètrics radials que surten d'un medalló central amb la lletra "R" i, sota, l'any "1856". La part de la porta disposa de dues fulles amb austers barrots verticals. L'accés des de la plaça Reial es realitza des d'un portal similar si bé de factura una mica menys elaborada. Ja a dins el passatge compta amb dos trams diferenciats per la seva coberta. El tram més pròxim a la Rambla està cobert a l'altura del sostre de l'entresol per un embigat paral·lel al carrer que suporta l'edifici superior; en canvi, la meitat més pròxima a la plaça Reial està coberta per un envidriat a l'alçada de la coberta que dona llum a tot l'espai. Els baixos i les finestres dels entresols situats a banda i banda al llarg del passatge presenten una uniformitat que donen coherència al conjunt. Totes les portes de comerç i la finestra de l'entresol situada al seu damunt segueixen un patró que es repeteix al llarg de l'espai. Cada obertura comercial i la finestra de l'entresol estan flanquejats per sengles pilastres amb una basa de més volum que la resta de l'element, un fust amb el tram inferior amb solcs verticals i el superior llis, amb un únic rectangle en relleu, coronat per un capitell jònic. A aquesta alçada dues escultures de nens suporten el guardapols que cobreix la finestra. Entre la finestra i la porta inferior hi ha l'espai en què, originalment, aniria el nom del comerç. Les baranes de les finestres són de ferro forjat. Un dels elements més destacables d'aquest passatge és la galeria que la travessa en paral·lel al carrer a mitjana alçada del recorregut. Està fabricada amb estructura de ferro, de la que destaquen unes elaborades mènsules i totalment envidriada.1849 - 1865
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1882
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Graphic Arts Factory and Workshops Henrich i Cia.
The building is located on a plot of land between party walls, with the main façade facing Còrsega Street. It integrates a large building within the urban fabric of the Eixample. To achieve this, we have proposed three different types of façades that respond to different conditions of its immediate environment: the façade on Còrsega Street, the façade in the interior of the block and the façades of the hotel's courtyards. The façade is split into two floor plans, one of glass and the other one of ceramic. On the main façade, the openings are carried out with respect to the façade plan by means of brass boxes, creating a game of light and shadow that reduces the screen effect of the building, achieving a better proportion on a city scale. Following the same principle, the two large galleries recall the "skyline" of the old Bayer factory. At night, these boxes are illuminated, achieving the effect that the boxes float on a black canvas. These mechanisms help to divide the longitudinal view of the façade, which occupies almost the entire block. On the ground floor, the double-height metal portico structure helps to build a foundation that seeks the view of the interior garden and gives presence to the building. The façade here is proposed in reverse, this time with the glass set back, reaching a depth of up to 1 m from the base to its crowning. It is a façade that recognises its visual foreshortening and emerges from this condition with the maximum possible advantage, building a façade with thickness, with shadows, which from its complexity in this case allows simplification to integrate into the environment. The rear façade, with joinery also located on the interior floor plan, generates a game of voids and groups the first two floors into a single opening, to obtain greater verticality. The inner courtyards of the hotel take on a special relevance and not only provide ventilation to some simpler rooms, but open to the interior distribution corridors. To solve the possibility of visual interference between corridors and rooms, a skin of vertical metal tubes in the shape of a diamond has been constructed which, like large curtains, solves this problem. At night, lines of hidden LEDs backlit the tubes, offering an image of the suspension of the light metal element in front of its enclosure or patio façades. One of the main challenges has been the industrialisation of the entire construction solution. It is a very light ventilated façade built from large modules of almost 5x3 metres that were finished at the workshop. This solution has had many advantages, including absolute control over its finish and faster assembly. The fact of minimising the number of different materials (black ceramic panel, glass and structure lined with brass) has allowed to simplify not only its formal solution, but also its construction.1886
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Gran Hotel Internacional
Per tal de disposar de suficients places hoteleres durant l’Exposició Universal de 1888, l’Ajuntament de Barcelona va convocar un concurs per construir un gran hotel, de caràcter efímer, que es va adjudicar al promotor Ricard Valentí, amb un projecte de Domènech i Montaner. L’Hotel Internacional no presentava grans innovacions estètiques, però va despertar molta admiració per la velocitat d’execució: 53 dies per acabar l’estructura i un total de 83 per tenir l’edifici enllestit. Domènech va idear una construcció seriada per tal de poder complir els terminis establerts. L’edifici presentava una planta rectangular, de 150 m per 35m, amb un eix de simetria central i cossos sortints als dos extrems i a la part central. Tenia cinc plantes als cossos allargats i sis al cos central i a les torres. Disposava d’ascensor, portes d’accés per vianants i per cotxes, cafè, restaurant, camiseria i guanteria, estanc, telègraf, pati d’honor i grans lluernaris que il·luminaven els passadissos. Podia donar servei a 2000 hostes, amb 600 habitacions i 30 apartaments per famílies. Per tal de poder construir sobre un terreny tan inestable com el terraplè que s’havia format amb l’enderroc de la muralla de Mar, on la fonamentació convencional hauria sigut molt costosa i lenta d’executar, es va fer servir un enginyós sistema. Consistia en una graella de bigues metàl·liques (que en realitat eren rails de tren llogats que es podien recuperar un cop enderrocat l’edifici després de l’exposició) sobre les que recolzaven voltes de maó de pla invertides, creant una llosa contínua de fonamentació. Totes els murs eren de fàbrica de maó, amb un dimensionat dels espais ajustats al format de la peça per minimitzar els talls de la ceràmica. Per tal d’accelerar la construcció es treballava les 24 hores del dia, fent torns dels operaris i dividits en especialitzacions. En el torn de nit es va fer servir il·luminació elèctrica, fet que despertava l’admiració a l’època. Una estructura laboral moderna on Bonaventura Pollés i Vivó i el recent titulat Josep Forteza i Ubach actuaven d’arquitectes ajudants. L’obra comptà amb estucats decoratius a partir de dibuixos d’Alexandre de Riquer, Joan Llimona i Dionís Baixeras, motllures ornamentals, empaperat dels interiors… La pintura va anar a càrrec de l’empresa Bassegoda, i la decoració Saumell i Vilaró. El conjunt decoratiu volia assolir la difícil síntesi d’una arquitectura nacional i moderna, tal i com Domènech havia determinat en el seu article “En busca d’un arqutiectura nacional”. Hi ha clares referències medievals, però també conserva alguns deixos acadèmics i, a la vegada, un aire art nouveau. Un cop acabada l’exposició, malgrat les peticions del promotor per conservar-lo, l’edifici fou enderrocat.1888
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1896
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1898
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1902
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Suís Hotel
Corner building with ground floor and two floors. The façade has a modernist language and combines exposed brick, sgraffitos with floral motifs, worked stone and ceramics. In the chamfer there is a large balcony that rests on a pilaster. The wrought iron of the balconies and the entrance should also be highlighted. The entrance forms a gate separated from the street by a gate. The building, as it was in 1982, came from the refurbishment of a series of houses between partitions that were transformed into a hotel, while changing the interior distribution but preserving the curves and openings of the façade. -
Gran Hotel Peninsular
Building between partitions, ground floor and three landings. The façade has a very flat composition, symmetrical and with two openings per floor. The ground floor has a double portal, the first floor has a double iron balcony supported by corbels and rounded edges, and on the upper floors there are individual balconies of wavy shapes also made of iron. The top of the building is made with a cornice and toothed gables that reinforce the vertical composition of the openings. The façade is made of stucco and it has ornaments of floral motifs on the lintels and under the balconies. The tax line is at the level of the balconies on the top floor, with an attempt to integrate with the neighbouring buildings.1903
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1905
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1906
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Harbour Works Board Palace
The Port Works Board is located in an open space in Pla de Palau Square, next to Bosch i Alsina Pier. It is an isolated building designed by Julio Valdés at the beginning of the 20th century. It has a rectangular plan, with a ground floor and two floors above. The different façades, and especially the main one, are characterised by a very important accumulation of decorative features following an eclectic style. On the ground floor we find a series of semi-circular arched openings flanked by pilasters with a very simple capital. Above, new smooth pilasters continue the same vertical axis and surmount a decorated balustrade located in the central section of the building. On this level, new multiple openings also half-point with awnings in half-vault. In the last floor, which is like an attic but with a significant height, the openings are smaller and quadrangular. Balustrades and balconies are combined. Throughout the façade, the forging used is very variegated. One of the most defining features of this building is the presence of four large towers with a quadrangular plan located at each of the vertices of the building. Two other smaller towers are located between these and the cornice of the front and back façades. This front cornice is quite prominent and is surmounted by three main sculptures with marine icons flanked by winged lions. It has a wide profusion of applied ornamentation, highlighting the rich cresting of the roof area. The building was seriously affected by bombing during the Civil War, for this reason it had to be restored from the year 1940. More recently it suffered the construction of a rise that has disfigured the effect of the tower system angles, cresting and pumped roof. It is currently in a good state of conservation. Both its location in a much wider space than the railway landing and its function as a gateway for travelers arriving by sea to the city allowed the construction of a building, which once again appeals to the typology of the palace, and which takes French architecture as a model. In the same way as the headquarters of Gas Lebón, we find the typical four angular towers with a very inclined roof and a profusion of applied ornamentation, highlighting the rich cresting of the roof area, in addition to a bold combination of the openings of semicircular arch, on the columns on the main fçcade, following the model of the Grand Opéra in Paris, as well 18th-century windows following the Catalan tradition on the lateral and rear façades. The terminal, which housed the "El Mundial" restaurant on the upper floor and its own offices such as customs and post offices on the ground floor, was severely affected by the bombings of the civil war.1903 - 1907
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Manuel Planas Carbonell House
Building between partitions with a ground floor and two floors, on the corner of Carrer Illa de Cuba and Carrer Sant Gaudenci. The chamfered corner is resolved by means of a tribune which occupies the two floors, with interesting coloured glass. The openings on the floors are balconies with iron railings and framed at the top by mouldings with floral decoration. The building ends in straight lines with stylised arched pediments with centred palmette. On the façade facing Carrer Sant Gaudenci there is a covered gallery with a large rounded window. The documentation found on this building is not sufficiently explicit. The inventory file of the Architects' Association of Barcelona attributes the work to the master builder Gaietà Miret i Reventós and places its construction in 1908. On the other hand, the Sitges Municipal Archive preserves a plan of the project (with the name "Casa Ollé") signed by the architect Josep Pujol i Brull in 1907. It is possible that, for some reason, the master builder Gaietà Miret was commissioned to carry out J. Pujol's original project. A few years ago, the house was in a considerable state of neglect, but it has now been refurbished. In any case, the works corresponding to these dates seem to have been carried out on a pre-existing building constructed in 1881.1907 - 1908
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1908 - 1922
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20th century
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Font Country House
Monumental building, reproduction of a basilica-type Catalan country house, that is, with a gable roof and a higher central body. It consists of basements, 2 floors and the aforementioned central body that acts as a viewpoint, and galleries, following the traditional Catalan style of vaulted door, large windows and arches, sundial and ceramic panels on the façade. There is a large entrance with lounges on both sides - one of which has a fireplace - and a staircase leading to the second floor where the rooms are, divided by a central corridor, from which another staircase leads up to the viewpoint. Built by the Barcelona novelist Alexandre Font with the desire to recover our traditional architecture after spending many summers in Gelida, where he was part of the nucleus that arrived at the end and beginning of the century. Its construction and inauguration were well known in the Barcelona literary circles of the Athenaeum and Café Colom, since the best writers and poets of the time, friends of the owner, offered him a booklet (edition of 33 copies) entitled " La Casa Nova" in April 1929. This group of friends were Ferran Agulló, Joaquim Cabot, Enrich de Fuentes, Ramon Garriga, pvre., Joan M. Guasch, Francesc Masferrer, Francesc Matheu, n, Puget, Joan Ruic and Porta, Joan Santamaria, Lluís Via, and a song with lyrics by J.M. Gouache and music by Amadeu Vives, entitled "Cançó del viure feliç".