Casa Museu Lluís Domènech i Montaner, Canet de Mar
The seaside house the master of Catalan Modernisme built for himself, now the museum of his life and work.
At a glance
In the coastal town of Canet de Mar, north of Barcelona, Lluís Domènech i Montaner (1850–1923) built a summer home for his own family. Domènech, author of the Palau de la Música Catalana and the Hospital de Sant Pau, had deep roots here: both his mother and his wife, Maria Roura, were from the town. The casa Domènech, raised in 1918–1919 with his son Pere Domènech i Roura and his son-in-law Francesc Guardia, is joined to the Masia Rocosa, a seventeenth-century farmhouse. Since 1991 the whole complex has been the house-museum of the architect.
Key facts
- Location: Riera Gavarra / Riera Buscarons, Canet de Mar
- Architect: Lluís Domènech i Montaner, with Pere Domènech i Roura and Francesc Guardia
- Built: 1918–1919 (with the 17th-century Masia Rocosa)
- Style: Catalan Modernisme
- Today: the Casa Museu Lluís Domènech i Montaner (museum since 1991)
History
Domènech i Montaner was one of the founders of Catalan Modernisme, an architect, scholar and politician who tied his art to a sense of national identity. His connection to Canet de Mar came through the women of his family: his mother was born here, and so was his wife, Maria Roura. He spent long seasons in the town, especially in summer, and built several works in it.
Late in life he raised his own house beside the Masia Rocosa, an old farmhouse he had acquired. The new casa Domènech went up in 1918–1919, designed with his son Pere Domènech i Roura, an architect in his own right, and his son-in-law Francesc Guardia. The architect died in 1923, only a few years after it was finished.
After careful restoration, the family house and the masia opened to the public in 1991 as a museum dedicated to Domènech, his career and the Modernista movement he helped to shape. It is the natural companion to the other buildings he left in Canet, among them the Casa Roura and the Castell de Santa Florentina.
What you see
The house gathers the materials Domènech loved into a domestic key: exposed brick, ceramics, ironwork and carved stone, handled with the same craft he brought to his great public buildings but at the scale of a family home. The older Masia Rocosa anchors the group, its plain stone walls a foil to the Modernista additions.
Inside, the museum shows how the architect lived and worked, with drawings, furnishings and pieces tied to his major commissions. To walk through it is to see the private side of the man who gave Barcelona its concert hall, the same vocabulary of flower, tile and brick turned to the comfort of his own household.
Practical information
- Open: as a museum; guided visits at set times, check the website
- Cost: admission charge
- Best for: the architect’s own rooms and the link to the Masia Rocosa
- Time needed: 1 hour
Getting there
Canet de Mar is on the Maresme coast about 40 km north-east of Barcelona, on the R1 rail line; the house is a short walk from the station and the seafront.
Nearby
- Casa Roura — Domènech’s earlier Modernista house on the Riera de Sant Domènec
- Castell de Santa Florentina — the architect’s castle restoration in the hills above Canet
Sources
- Casa Museu Lluís Domènech i Montaner (casamuseu.canetdemar.cat) — history and visits
- Ajuntament de Canet de Mar (canetdemar.cat) — the museum
- Wikimedia Commons — image source and licence
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