The stone is plain; everything happens in the iron. Alessandro Mazzucotelli hung leaves, coils and butterflies from these balconies in 1902.
At a glance
Casa Ferrario stands at Via Spadari 3/5, a few steps from the Duomo, in the street Milanese food shoppers know for its delicatessens. It was begun in 1902 to a design by the architect Ernesto Pirovano and is counted among the first and the best buildings of Milanese Liberty. The regional heritage record lists four floors above ground; the building is in private hands and now holds offices.
History
The house went up at the moment when the new decorative style, imported from Brussels and Vienna, first reached the centre of Milan. Pirovano worked repeatedly with the master smith Alessandro Mazzucotelli (1865–1938), and this facade is one of the results. Around it stand two other buildings of the same generation: Casa Vanoni next door and, opposite, the Casa dell’Unione Cooperativa.
What you see
The stonework and the structure are relatively sober; the ornament is concentrated in the wrought iron. The balcony railings carry leaves, flowers and volutes drawn from the manner of the Belgian architect Victor Horta, with zoomorphic and plant motifs above all in the central bay and in the balcony of the top terrace. The most delicate passages are the butterflies, made from thin curved iron sheet fixed to the body of the railing; time and neglect have damaged them badly. The same motifs return in stone on the side wing, and the main staircase inside keeps an elegant iron balustrade.
Cultural significance
Casa Ferrario is the building that put Mazzucotelli’s ironwork on the Milanese map. His hand can be recognised afterwards on Casa Campanini, Palazzo Castiglioni and Villa Romeo-Faccanoni, and the trail he leaves across the city is one of the clearest ways to read Milanese Liberty as a single episode rather than a scatter of houses.
Key facts
- Architect: Ernesto Pirovano
- Built: from 1902
- Wrought iron: Alessandro Mazzucotelli
- Historic use: apartment building; current use: offices
- Address: Via Spadari 3/5, Milan
- Coordinates: 45.4633 N, 9.1872 E
Practical information & getting there
Metro M1/M3 Duomo, then five minutes on foot down Via Torino and Via Spadari. The building is private: the facade and its ironwork are what you come to see, and they are visible from the street at any time. Palazzo Castiglioni and Casa Campanini, both with Mazzucotelli work, are a short tram ride away.
Sources & resources
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