Casa Vicens
Before the spires and the broken tile of his late work, Gaudí began here, with a summer house dressed in ceramic flowers.
At a glance
Casa Vicens is a Modernista house in the Gràcia district of Barcelona, built between 1883 and 1885 to designs by Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926). It is considered his first major project. Gaudí had drawn up the earliest plans between 1878 and 1880, soon after qualifying as an architect, and the finished building caused a sensation. With its tiled walls, Moorish arches and exposed-brick columns, it belongs to the architect’s orientalist period and stands at the very threshold of Catalan Art Nouveau. It was declared a World Heritage Site in 2005.
Key facts
- Architect: Antoni Gaudí (his first major work)
- Built: 1883–1885 (initial plans 1878–1880)
- Commissioned by: the Vicens family, as a summer residence
- District: Gràcia, then an independent town
- Style: orientalist Modernisme, with Neo-Mudéjar influences
- Protection: Historic-Artistic Monument 1969; World Heritage Site 2005
History
Antoni Gaudí graduated from the Barcelona School of Architecture in 1878. Casa Vicens, begun a few years later, was his first significant commission and an early statement of intent. When it was built, Gràcia was still a separate urban nucleus with its own council, classed as a town rather than a district of Barcelona.
The work belongs to Gaudí’s orientalist period, roughly 1883 to 1888, when he drew on the art of the Near and Far East and on Hispano-Islamic traditions such as Mudéjar and Nasrid design. He covered the building in ceramic tiling and gave it Moorish arches and dome-like finishes, resources he would carry forward as Modernisme took shape.
The original plot included a large garden, but over time the land was subdivided and sold for apartment blocks, leaving the house and a small surrounding area. An extension planned in 1925 was offered to Gaudí, who declined it and passed it to his protégé Joan Baptista Serra, who built it in the master’s style.
What you see
The facade reads as pattern before it reads as building: bands of green-and-white checkered tile climb the brick, broken by jutting bays and iron railings. Gaudí designed three exposed facades, the house having been attached to an adjoining convent by a party wall.
Inside and out, the orientalist vocabulary is consistent — ceramic surfaces, brick columns, and finishes shaped like small temples or domes. It is the rare building where a great architect’s entire later language is already legible in embryo.
Practical information
- Casa Vicens is open to the public as a house museum; check current hours before visiting.
- The exterior can be seen from Carrer de les Carolines at any time.
- It sits in Gràcia, away from the main Eixample Gaudí cluster.
- Time needed: about an hour for the house and garden.
Getting there
Casa Vicens stands on Carrer de les Carolines in Gràcia, a short walk from the Fontana metro station on line 3 and well served by city buses.
Nearby
- Park Güell, also by Gaudí, uphill from Gràcia.
- The squares and streets of the Gràcia district.
- The Eixample, with Casa Milà and Casa Batlló.
Sources
- Wikipedia (EN), “Casa Vicens”.
- UNESCO World Heritage List, “Works of Antoni Gaudí”.
- Casa Vicens institutional information.
Gallery
More views — angles and details, photographed by Luigi De Marchi.
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