Casa Roura, Canet de Mar
An early Domènech mansion where Modernisme meets the medieval: a brick house crowned by a conical, tile-clad tower.
At a glance
Casa Roura stands on the Riera de Sant Domènec, the old watercourse that runs through Canet de Mar. Lluís Domènech i Montaner (1850–1923) built it between 1889 and 1892 for his sister-in-law Francesca Roura and her husband Jacint de Capmany. It is one of his earlier Modernista works, raised at the moment the style was taking shape, and it shows him fusing the new architecture with the medieval imagery he loved. The house remains in private hands and is not open to visitors, but its exterior is among the sights of Modernista Canet.
Key facts
- Location: Riera de Sant Domènec, Canet de Mar
- Architect: Lluís Domènech i Montaner
- Built: 1889–1892
- Style: Catalan Modernisme with medieval influences
- Note: a private residence; exterior only
History
The Roura family were close to Domènech: his wife, Maria Roura, came from Canet, and it was for her sister Francesca and her husband Jacint de Capmany that the architect designed this house. The commission came early in his career, around 1889, when the Modernista movement was still forming and Domènech was one of the architects defining it.
He answered with a mansion that looks back to the Middle Ages even as it points forward to the new century. Brick, iron and ceramic, the materials that would run through all his work, are already here, handled with the confidence of a young master. The house belongs to the same group of Canet commissions that includes his own later home and the Castell de Santa Florentina.
It has stayed a private home and is not generally open, so it is known from the street rather than from within. Even so, it is studied as a key early example of the Modernista house, and it appears on every Modernista route through the town.
What you see
The corner tower is the building’s signature. It rises on a circular base to a tall conical roof clad in ceramic, a silhouette out of a fairy tale, with gargoyles in the shape of animal heads thrusting from the stepped cornices below. The body of the house is brick, left visible and worked into bands and patterns.
The mix is deliberate: the gargoyles, the tower and the medieval air are filtered through a Modernista eye that prizes craft, colour and the honest show of materials. It is the sort of house where a serious architect allowed himself to be playful, a fantasy built for family on a quiet street by the riera.
Practical information
- Open: no; private residence, viewable from the street
- Cost: free to view the exterior
- Best for: the conical ceramic tower and the animal-head gargoyles
- Time needed: 10 minutes
Getting there
Casa Roura is on the Riera de Sant Domènec in central Canet de Mar, a short walk from the railway station; Canet lies about 40 km north-east of Barcelona.
Nearby
- Casa Museu Lluís Domènech i Montaner — the architect’s own house, now his museum
- Castell de Santa Florentina — Domènech’s castle in the hills above the town
Sources
- Ajuntament de Canet de Mar (canetdemar.cat) — Casa Roura
- Centre d’Estudis Lluís Domènech i Montaner — Casa Roura (1889–1892)
- Wikimedia Commons — image source and licence
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