Hotel Suís, Sabadell
A station hotel of brick, sgraffito and mosaic, the building where Batllevell first reached for trencadís.
At a glance
The Hotel Suís rises on a corner of the Carrer de la Indústria in Sabadell, facing the site of the city’s old railway station. Juli Batllevell i Arús designed and built it between 1902 and 1904, and it opened as a hotel in 1904. It is among the most significant Modernista buildings in Sabadell, and the first in which Batllevell used trencadís, the broken-tile mosaic associated with Gaudí. It worked as a hotel only until 1913, but the building and its decoration have survived.
Key facts
- Location: Carrer de la Indústria, Sabadell (opposite the old station)
- Architect: Juli Batllevell i Arús
- Built: 1902–1904 (a hotel until 1913)
- Style: Catalan Modernisme
- Today: ground floor in commercial use; protected as a local cultural asset
History
When the railway reached Sabadell, a hotel was wanted by the station, and Juli Batllevell, the city’s Modernista architect, took the commission. He built the Hotel Suís between 1902 and 1904 on a prominent corner facing the tracks, and it opened to receive travellers in 1904.
For Batllevell the building was a turning point. It was the first in which he worked in trencadís, the mosaic of broken ceramic that Gaudí had made famous, and he combined it with brick, sgraffito and ironwork into a fully Modernista whole. The hotel did not last long in its first role, closing around 1913, after which a café kept part of the ground floor alive for decades.
The upper building stayed largely intact, and the Hotel Suís is now protected as a building of local cultural interest. Its ground floor today holds a law office and a restaurant, while the façade remains one of the landmarks of Modernista Sabadell.
What you see
The corner is the heart of the design. The main door sits at the angle of the two streets, set under a portico that carries a balcony thrown well out on a deep cantilever, so the building seems to step forward to greet the street. Above and around it the front mixes exposed brick, worked stone, wrought iron and bands of sgraffito with floral motifs.
Running through it all is the trencadís, the broken-tile mosaic that gives the surface its shimmer and ties the composition together. For a provincial hotel of 1904 it is an ambitious piece of architecture, and it shows Batllevell absorbing the lessons of Gaudí and making them his own.
Practical information
- Open: exterior always viewable; ground-floor businesses during their own hours
- Cost: free to view the façade
- Best for: the cantilevered corner balcony and the trencadís work
- Time needed: 10 minutes
Getting there
The Hotel Suís is on the Carrer de la Indústria in central Sabadell, about 20 km north of Barcelona and easily reached by FGC and Renfe rail.
Nearby
- Despatx Lluch — Batllevell’s rose-columned textile office nearby
- The Modernista city centre of Sabadell and its market
Sources
- Ajuntament de Sabadell / Visit Sabadell (visitsabadell.com) — Hotel Suís
- Arquitectura Catalana (arquitecturacatalana.cat) — Hotel Suís
- Wikimedia Commons — image source and licence
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