Casa Vicens, Gauds first work, is on

sale!

15 May 20124 Commentsin Placesby Carolina Ayerbe

The first important work of Catalan architect Antoni Gaud after graduating from
architecture school is now on sale. The Herrero Jover family, owners of Casa Vicens,
decided to sell it on September of last year.
I stumbled upon this news a couple of weeks ago and it took me by surprise because it
never occurred to me that anybody would sell any of Gauds works.
See update at the end of the article.

Main fasade.
Photo:casavicens.es

Fascinating how a person would own one of the most interesting works of Gaud to one day
decide to sell it. Of course, I have no knowledge of the circumstances of the family at this
point.
Especially considering this house is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of Works of
Antoni Gaud.

Photo: www.spaineurope.net

I thought they belonged to the state or some institution like that. Its easy to forget that some
of these properties are inhabited by regular people.

Photo: blog.naver.com

Youd think with Casa Vicens theyd want to make some money off tourists visiting the
house, it would only be logical, as it is the case with La Pedrera or Casa Batll.

Who is Antoni Gaud?

Antoni Gaud. Photo:www.gaudidesigner.com

Antoni Gaud i Cornet was a Spanish Catalanarchitect born in 1852. He is notable because
of being the main figure of the Spanish style movement called Modernisme, the equivalent
ofArt Nouveau in Spain.
But he is also more than just the main figure. Deeply religious, Gauds work aims to praise
the work of God through architecture and interior design.
This resulted in buildings and spaces like no others in the world, with intricate and unusual
shapes and creatures that seem almost taken from a fantasy world, but in actuality inspired
by Gods greatest work: nature.

How Casa Vicens came to be

Gaud graduated from the Barcelona Higher School of Architecture in 1878 and in that same
year, Mr. Manuel Vicens y Montaner (who had inherited the plot of land the previous year)
commissioned Gaud to design the then holiday house.
Being an industrialist who owned a brick and tile factory, these are two very important
elements in the design of the house.

Photo: touristicattractions.com

At this point Gaud hadnt developed his sinuous curvy signature style yet, but the display of
creativity, incorporating Moorish (or Mudjar) influences, especially at the top of the house, is
astonishing.
The richness of patterns is just as exuberant in the interior of the house, where several
Islamic influences are very notorious, such as in the Smoking Lounge.

Smoking lounge. Photo: www.gaudidesigner.com

Visiting Casa Vicens

Since the house is private property, it cannot be visited. However, I found that it is open to
neighbors and citizens on May 22, Santa Ritas day.

Scale model showing the main fasade at the Catalunya en Miniatura miniature park. The big flower pot would be on
the right bottom corner, next to the door. Calle de les Carolines would be on the right side of this model.Photo:
Jordiferrer, Wikipedia.

Main fasade. Old picture. Photo: www.gaudidesigner.com/uk Calle de les Carolines would be on the far right side.

Casa Vicens is located at 24 Calle les Carolines (get it? What a fun coincidence!)
inBarcelona, Spain.

Location. Photo: casavicens.es

Ver mapa ms grande

Going to Google street view will give you a pretty good idea of the street and how the house fits into it. The main fasade
is perpendicular to the street.

Theres little information about the rooms and how the spaces are laid out.

Main entrance. Photo: Corbis.

The house is fairly large for modern standards and its four stories.
The semi-basement floor is 302 m2, the ground floor is 332 m2 plus 22 m2 of terrace, the first
floor is 255 m2 plus 79 m2 of terrace and the second floor is 273 m2.
Thats 1266 m2, roughly 14.000 ft2.
The house is pushed to the end of the land, leaving open space for a garden. The area we
see today is actually smaller than the original plan, due to the expansion of the street and
other works.

Exterior sitting area. Photo: lamevabcn.blogspot.com

There are two entrances at the level of the street with a grand sitting and dining room, a
smoking lounge, a hall and two rooms on the ground floor.

Floorplan, ground floor. Source: casavicens.es

Dining room. Photo: casavicens.es

Dining room. Photo: casavicens.es

Dining room. Photo: casavicens.es

Dining room. Photo: casavicens.es

The first floor houses the family bedrooms. The second floor was destined for the servants.
The semi-basement houses the kitchen and a storage room.

Gate. Photo: Marlis 1, Flickr.

Bedroom. Photo: casavicens.es

Bedroom. Photo: casavicens.es

I also read that the house has about 12 rooms and 10 bathrooms.

Bathroom. Photo: casavicens.es

Architectonic elements
Casa Vicens was built using bricks, tiles and iron. The color composition of its checkerboard
theme works in perfect harmony with the iron elements such as the gate, the lamps and the
pots.

Photo: 2.bp.blogspot.com

It features different gables and buttresses and the design tends to go outwards in the upper
stories.
The cherub like figures sitting on the edge of the small balcony that faces the street add a
touch of whimsy and elegance.

Cherub on the balcony facing the street. Photo: lamevabcn.blogspot.com

Inside, the ceiling showcases different finishes, like the cherry branches between the
wooden beams in the dining room.

Ceiling detail. Photo: casavicens.es

The dome painting in the sitting room gives you the impression of looking through a glass
dome, to the sky.

Photo: www.gaudidesigner.com

The smoking lounge surprises us with stalactite-like formations hanging from it, decorated
with cherries and finished with an impressive lamp with Arabic characters.
The dining room, the most decorated in the house, is a showcase of figures from nature like
birds and vines.

The selling of Casa Vicens

Mr. Manuel Vicens y Montaner, owner of the land received his finished house in 1888. The
Vicens family sold it to Dr. Antonio Jover in 1899; hes the grandfather of the current owners.
In 1924 Dr. Jover decided to make Casa Vicens his permanent residency rather than a
holiday home.

Casa Vicens. Living room. Photo: casavicens.es

From then on, the house has undergone several alterations, always respecting the original
design as much as possible, once even consulting with Gaud himself to approve the
changes.

Casa Vicens. Fasade facing the back yard, parallel to Calle de les Carolines. Photo:casavicens.es

The house has been restored twice, first in 1962 with Miss Fabiola Jover Gonzlez as the
owner and in 2004 in charge of Mr. Ignacio Herrero Jover.

Casa Vicens. Street fasade. Photo: casavicens.es

Casa Vicens. Photo: casavicens.es

It was Mr. Herrero Jover who declared in September 2011 that the house was for sale after
debating with the family if anybody wanted to keep it and maybe open it to the public.

Mr. Herrero stated that the house is pretty, but not very comfortable and that converting it
into a museum would demand full time attention, which the family would be unable to
provide.

Casa Vicens. Siiting area on the ground floor. Photo: casavicens.es

Sitting area from the outside. Photo: 4.bp.blogspot.com

The agency Altadicion is in charge of the sale of the property. I read in some sources that
the asking price goes from 27 to 35 million Euro.
Altadicion has created a gorgeous website to promote the sale of the house (I love the
music) with detailed information.
Its curious that the website is in English, Arab, Japanese, Russian and Chinese not in
Spanish or Catalan.

www.casavicens.es

Though there is more information about the house in the website, theres very little about the
different areas of the house, but I guess thats information that will be given to the buyer
confidentially.
The website also features floorplans, pictures and general information, as well as some
information about Gaud and his work.

Flower stand. Photo: lh5.ggpht.com

The first time I saw pictures of Casa Vicens I thought for sure whoever lived there had to be
kind of crazy. It is very ornamented and very exuberant and for some, quite overwhelming.
But I cant say that if I had the money, I wouldnt buy it.
Though not the most important work of Gaud, and certainly not his most representative,
Casa Vicens is like a little fairy tale castle in the middle of Barcelona.