Masia Freixa, Terrassa
A factory turned family home, roofed in white parabolic vaults that answer Gaudí without copying him.
At a glance
The Masia Freixa stands in the Parc de Sant Jordi in Terrassa, one of the strangest and most cheerful works of Catalan Modernisme. The industrialist Josep Freixa owned a textile works on the site, and between 1907 and 1910 he had the architect Lluís Muncunill i Parellada (1868–1931) turn it into the family’s home. Muncunill kept the old factory structure and clothed it in a skin of white parabolic arches, a tall tower and undulating rooflines, all whitewashed and serene.
Key facts
- Location: Parc de Sant Jordi, Plaça de Josep Freixa i Argemí, Terrassa
- Architect: Lluís Muncunill i Parellada
- Reform: 1907–1910 (on an earlier textile works)
- Style: Catalan Modernisme
- Today: municipal use and the Terrassa tourist office
History
Muncunill was the great Modernista architect of Terrassa, the city’s answer to Domènech and Gaudí, and the Masia Freixa is his most personal building. He did not start from nothing: a textile works already stood here, and he absorbed it into the new house rather than demolishing it.
In 1958 the Terrassa town council bought the property of more than 20,000 square metres, and in 1959 it opened around the house as the Parc de Sant Jordi. The masia later served for years as the city’s music conservatoire, and today it holds municipal functions and the tourist office.
What you see
The whole building is white, a single chalk-coloured mass of parabolic arches, vaults and curving walls that recall Gaudí while staying entirely Muncunill’s own. A slender tower rises at one corner; the porches ripple in and out so that no two sides read alike. The arches are not just decoration but the actual roof structure, brick built and self-supporting.
Inside, the rooms were finished by the painter Joaquim Vancells, and some of the original furniture survives. After the grey industrial fabric of Terrassa, the masia reads as a piece of frozen movement, a textile baron’s villa shaped like cloth.
Practical information
- Open: exterior and park freely accessible; interior houses the tourist office
- Cost: free to view from the park
- Best for: the white parabolic arches and the corner tower
- Time needed: 20–30 minutes
Getting there
The Masia Freixa is in the Parc de Sant Jordi, west of central Terrassa, a short walk or local bus from the city centre and the FGC station of Terrassa Rambla.
Nearby
- Vapor Aymerich, Amat i Jover (mNACTEC) — Muncunill’s Modernista factory, now the science museum
- Terrassa Seu d’Ègara — the early-medieval churches of Sant Pere
Sources
- Ajuntament de Terrassa / Visit Terrassa — Masia Freixa
- Arquitectura Catalana (arquitecturacatalana.cat) — Masia Freixa
- Wikimedia Commons — image source and licence
Find it on the map
See this place and what’s around it →📷 Diventa un fotografo di Cultural Heritage Online
Condividi le tue foto dei luoghi: restano pubblicate con la tua firma come autore. Più vengono viste, più ti fai conoscere — e presto un concorso premierà le foto più apprezzate.
Accedi o registrati gratis per aggiungere una foto