ARCHITECTURE AND IDEOLOGY IN CATALONIA, 1901-1951

Author(s): Josep Rovira

Source: AA Files, No. 14 (Spring 1987), pp. 62-68
Published by: Architectural Association School of Architecture
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 ARCHITECTURE AND IDEOLOGY
IN CATALONIA, 1901-1951
Josep Rovira

In 1901 the city council elections inBarcelona brought the newly A competition for a new plan was won by theFrenchman Leon Jaussely
established Lliga Regionalista party to power, leading to the pol? in 1903. While theCerd? plan had emphasized housing ? and as a
itical mobilization of the Catalan people and having a direct result boosted land values, benefiting mainly landowners ? Jaussely
impact on Catalan architecture.1 Lliga Regionalista represented the proposed a communications network that would link the different
new urban industrial class, which now took a political lead over the centres of industrial production: 'We have come to view the economic
agrarian parties which had dominated since the restoration of themon? organization of our cities as a kind of Taylorization on a grand scale, as
archy in 1875. Their aim was to organize an opposition movement though itwere one big workshop inwhich, for economic reasons, each
based on the ideology of 'Catalanism', and to establish autonomy from entitycan only occupy one place in thecity.'
Madrid. Although the industrial bourgeoisie was still to a great extent Puig's next stepwas toplan an internationalexhibition topromote the
conservative and traditionalist, and in factmaintained close linkswith industrialproducts ofBarcelona. In 1905 he wrote:
the rural population, itwas committed to theEuropeanization, modern? The past fouryearshave been spent incleaningup and puttinginorder:we have
? in the
ization and liberalization of the country Spanish context a rev? built sewers, paved streets, installed drinking water, organized museums, . . .

olutionary role. This dualism remained an enduring feature of what I [All thatismissing now is] theUniversal ExhibitionofBarcelona, whichwould
take Catalonia on to the world market and her ideas into the main?
shall henceforth refer to as the Industrial Party. incorporate
stream of world
The architect and theorist Josep Puig i Cadafalch (Fig. 1) was the thinking.3

main instigatorof the Industrial Party's programme ofmodernization. Two of Puig's building projects of theperiod, theMuntadas house of
Puig was determined to transformBarcelona into a great city. His first 1901 (Fig. 2) and theTrinxet house of 1904, were intended as a testing
stepwas to abandon Cerd?'s grid plan: ground forwhat the architecture of this incipientmodernity should be
We have to put a stop as soon as possible to the development of this chess-board, like. They are significantmore for their ideological message than their
which servesno purpose, and plan a greatring road to linkup all thedistrictsof
stylistic attributes; based on Catalan rural building-types, they reflect
and this must be done with an open mind
the dual ideology of the Catalan bourgeoisie ?
Barcelona; and in the modern as
way, that characteristic
is done in thecivilized world. We have to find a way of breaking the stifling
mixture of rural and industrial. Behind these early works was Puig i
uniformity of these squares, which are reminiscent of a communist phalanstery
or of a slave barracks.... We have to construct public buildings in isolation... Cadafalch's determination to create a national identityby integrating
and we must plan a reform of the old quarter from an artistic point of view.2 the two.

?
2. Muntadas house, Barcelona, 1901 Josep Puig iCadafalch.

1. JosepPuig iCadafalch, architect (1869?1956). 3. Exposition of the Electrical Industries, Barcelona, 1917. View ofPuig iCadafalch 's scheme.

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 In 1913 the Industrial Party again won the elections, and inDecem?
ber of that year many of the proposals of 1901 were finally set in
motion, for Catalonia was granted the mandate to establish an in?
dependent governing body, theMancomunitat, which immediately
began its task of uniting the four provinces of Catalonia. Puig iCada?
falch's project for an international exhibition could now go ahead. By
1915 he was adding the finishing touches to the overall plan for the
great event (Fig. 3), which was to take place on the thendeserted hill of
Montjuic. The similaritybetween Puig's plan and Otto Wagner's Arti
bus project of 1880 is obvious, but my interest here lies in the pro?
? the
gramme of the exhibition Exposition of theElectrical Industries
? and the reasons behind the form ittook.
Beneath the great gilded cupola of thebuilding which dominated the
whole event, referred to as 'The Temple of Light', therewas to be a
display of all the products of a newly industrialized and electrified
? rejecting what is not of utter plastic value.6
society that is, a temple with a cupola, a quintessentially classical
formderived from thepantheon (thatmodel home of all the gods), was
todisplay themost sophisticated product of the time, electricity.More?
over, the temple was flanked by an obsessively repetitive peristyle of
classical columns, which was to act successively as urban square, filter?
ingpassageway, andmantle and socle (Fig. 3).
Why should such pure classical elements be used to organize this
celebration ofmodernity? Certainly therewas the conviction thatclas?
sicism was able to communicate a universalist message, and would
avoid the provincialism of Puig's earlier buildings; however, there
were other factors. The firstwas a general resistance tomodern archi?
tecture. In 1912 the architect Jose Domenech i Estap? published an
article, 'ArchitectonicModernism', inwhich he set fortha persuasive
argument thatmodernist architecture was neither sincere nor func?
tional, and therefore should not be adopted as the national architecture
ofCatalonia. There was, moreover, wide support for classicism, which
suggests thatPuig's proposal for the exhibition might not have been so
outlandish. Bishop Torras y Bages, for example, made the following
declaration: 'What a difference there is between the aims ofmuch mod?
ernist art and those of that artistic traditionwhich, springing from the
. . .has
beauty ofGreece and thediscretion ofRome delighted somany
civilized societies. '4 In otherwords, classical forms are better suited to
creating a civilized society than the anarchy and disorder of
modernism. Led by Eugeni D'Ors (Fig. 4), a group of intellectuals
calling themselves 'Noucentistas' ('men of the nineteenth century')
argued thatclassical formswere even essential tomodernization: 'our
arts, by being refined and regularized, with perfect vitality,will reach
themost serene heights of classicism' .5
During the period when theMancomunitat began to carry out its
ambitious building programmes, classicism seemed to be the one lan
4. EugeniD'Ors, leader of the 5. Library, El Vendrell, 1917? Ramon
Noucentistas. (1886-1937).
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guage thatcould satisfyboth the ruling class and the intelligentsia, and
thus architecture became entwined with the ideology of the Industrial
Party. Although this language was of course subjected to various inter?
pretations, therewas one unifying precept, that classicism should not
be regarded as merely an extension of nineteenth-century eclecticism,
but rather as a flexible framework within which architecture could be
practised as an autonomous plastic art. The painter Torres Garcia
explained this in 1917 as follows:
Classicism, romanticism, realism, impressionism, cubism, futurism; any one
of these 'isms' is a fortressinwhich we seek to imprisonthepersonalityof the
artist. We must demolish these fortresses and be what we have to be . . . call it
plasticism... let itexist in its own right, let itbe what it should be... because it
is a matter of the reason, not for the appearance of the object, but rather for what
thatappearance really is.... [Besides] dealingwith form,value and colour fpr
themselves, we harmonize them in accordance with their geometric form . . .
I shall describe some buildings of the period which illustrate the
formal and technical difficulties of integrating the classical stylewith
theMancomunitat's programme of modernization. The library of El
Vendrell, by Ramon Puig Gairalt, was conceived as a pure geometric
form with applied classical ornament (Fig. 5). Yet this ornament ?
including awkward combinations of crudely formed pilasters and un?
orthodox capitals ? is completely unrelated to the basic geometry of
the building, and has the effect of breaking it up. Moreover, the
entrance portico, with its Ionic order and excessively large pediment
stuck up against the pilasters, is quite incongruous with the backdrop.
Puig Gairalt was unable to conceal the inherentphoniness inhis project.
With this library, as with some of his other buildings, he seemed to be
saying that this fragmented, incoherent, brutalized presentation was the
only way of responding to a programme of modernization unaccom?
panied by social reforms. I am reminded of Hugo von Hofmannsthal's
warning that 'La magie des mots has not power enough to sustain a
world inwhich thingsare revealed in theirrelativity. '7
A similar though less stridentapproach was taken by JosepGoday in
a series of schools thathe built between 1917 and 1930. The purpose of
these schools, according to the city council of Barcelona, was to 'pre?
pare theirpupils to enter our industrialworld ... so that the instruction
they receive should enable them to become the good workers thatBar
celona's industrial society needs.'8 The council also indicated that the
buildings should be designed according to a rational programme. In the
Baixeres School of 1917 (Fig. 6), Goday decided to dispense with a
centralized plan, inorder tomake themost of a difficult site. The main
entrance and stairwaywere placed at one corner of thebuilding, thereby
increasing the space allocated to class-rooms. These are arranged in
an L-formation around a light and well-ventilated hall, which had to
lirilll^llUIII^lli?lUlllillllJII
Puig Gairalt 6. Baixeres school, Barcelona, 1917?Josep Goday
(1882-1936).
63
replace the outdoor playground which could not be accommodated. As
the different functional requirements of the programme precluded an
orthodox classical composition, the classical touches on the facade ?
copied from the baroque palace of theVirreina, and combined with
?
traditional Catalan esgrafiat, or sgraffito merely 'accompany' the
building, which already has itsown formal integrity.Goday divides the
facade into the usual classical tripartite arrangement, and then uses
colour and texture to accommodate and unify the formations arising
from the irregularly shaped interior spaces. These dextrous combin?
ations, achieving a smooth transition between past and present, per?
fectly reflect the aims of the Industrial Party: to present modernization
as a process without a history? that is,without allowing any discon?
tinuityto intrude.
The Olympia Circus-Theatre of 1921, by Francesc Folguera, incor?
?- where in a matter of seconds a thirteen
porated a large central space
metre ring could be converted into a swimming-pool ? beneath a
cupola fortymetres in diameter. Yet this cupola was not visible from
the interior.And when Folguera published thebuilding ina journal, he
gave the title as 'TheMetal Skeleton of theOlympia Circus-Theatre',
showing his complete indifference to theexterior.
The Coliseum cinema, designed by Nebot and built in 1923 (Fig. 9),
was to be a temple ofmodernity and a sanctuary for theurban masses,
and perhaps it is not surprising that its facade should be reminiscent of
other buildings with a similar function (though in another context) ?
for example the churches of S. Agnese, Rome, and St Paul's, London.
As stated in theprospectus for theColiseum, itwas tobe the 'best cinema
inEurope . . . only theCapitol inNew York may surpass it inmonu
mentality, but not in comfort', and itwas to be equipped with all the
The use of classicism was encouraged during Miguel Primo de
Rivera y Orbaneja's military dictatorship of 1923-31 (Fig. 7). In spite
of de Rivera's disastrous economic policies, which led to a huge public
spending deficit and a heftydevaluation of thepeseta, itwas, ironically,
during this period that the great dream of the Industrial Party was
realized: the International Exposition of 1929 (Fig. 8). In thisevent the
collusion of architecture and politics can be seen at itsmost blatant. It
used an audacious method of persuasion: the spectacle. People who
attended the exhibition were mostly there, not to understand, but to be
amazed. Dissimulation by day, assertiveness by night: just as the tech?
nology in the buildings was concealed, so itwas impossible to discern
the source of the spectacular night-timedisplays of lightand water. Day
and night, history and technology: poles of a necessarily complicated
realitywhich was claiming to be one, Apollo and Dionysius attempting
to assert their unity by concealing their origins. After theDionysian
night of 1929 came Apollonian classicism, culminating in theNational
Palace (the old 'temple of light'), which housed an exhibition of
Spanish art. The memory of Puig iCadafalch's project wandered for?
gotten on the hill ofMontjuic. The institutions thathe helped to create
had begun their swan-song.
The year 1929 is importantfor another reason. Justwhen clas?
sicism was becoming overworked, thefirst signs appeared, in
thework of Francesc Folguera (architect of the previously
mentioned Olympia Circus-Theatre), that itwas about to be aban?
doned. In 1928 he wrote:
a retrospective current has dominated our immediate past as the result of an

newest technology of the period. Yet all thiswas overlaid with a false intellectualeducation based more on the spiritof learningthanon thespiritof
. . . But there are signs of change. . . .Modern
exterior which merely drew attention to the real problem which was investigation. everywhere
methods on work done machines. . . .The
production depend essentially by
being ignored, thatof defining thecinema inmodern terms. new materials ?
reinforced concrete, iron and glass
?
have opened up new
In a paper of 1925 entitled 'The Tallest Office Building of theVia avenues, new possibilities. . . .Our
intelligence must be channelled, now that

Layetana', the architect Adolfo Florensa described Camb? House, his
office-building of 1921-5 (Fig. 10) as 'the solution that has been
adopted in themodern American buildings'. Florensa was referring to
the type of plan using centralized services and reinforced-concrete pil?
lars and supports, which would increase space for offices and allow
them to vary in size.9 But again the crucial question is the treatmentof
the facade. Not only are theplinth and architrave laden with historicist
elements, but,more significantly, the structuralbays of thebuilding do
not follow the rhythmof the openings in the facade. In other words,
although the face that the building presents to the city is dominated by
classicism, it is completely unrelated to the interior.This is yet another
example of architecture taking the role of intermediary by allowing
historicism toobscure thepresence of themodern.
the real meaning of pure construction and technology, with the beauty and truth
to all perfect things, has been understood. . . We
. must come to
which belongs
view the contempt of technology used as an ordering principle in architecture as
an evil.10
The message is clear: architecture should be kept apart from politics. It
should be treated as an autonomous discipline, and a completely
modern one, and itmust dispense with the 'veils' hitherto used to con?
ceal theconstruction process or new technology.
Folguera's Casal Sant Jordiof 1929 (Fig. 11) was thefirstmodernist
building inCatalonia. A complex project which included a storehouse
and private and rented commercial and residential accommodation, it
used technology thatwas sophisticated for theBarcelona of the time?
for example windows with rubber joints, which open in two directions,

7. Primo de Rivera, military dictator 1923-31. 8. International Exposition, Barcelona, 1929.

^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^
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 ?
9. Coliseum cinema, Barcelona, 1923 FrancescNebot (1883?1966). 10. Camb? building,Barcelona, 1921-5?Adolfo Florensa, (1889?1969).

?
11. CasalStJordi, Barcelona, 1929-31 FrancescFolguera (1891?1960).

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and gas central-heating with automatic thermostats. Folguera also
organized the various levels of thebuilding in an ususual way: instead
of placing theprincipal accommodation on the firstfloor, as was typical
of Ensanche buildings, with the characteristic 'tribuna', or gallery, on
the facade, he placed iton the top floor. This meant thatnot only did the
liftbecome an importantfeature but theoccupants were removed from
street noise and could enjoy the first roof-garden inBarcelona. Sadly,
however, the building industryof Catalonia was too backward to go
beyond Folguera's modest experiment.
In a lecture of 1929 theyoung architect Josep Torres Clave (Fig. 12)
declared that 'Great epochs in architecture always coincide with a
period of new discoveries in construction methods, and they are also
always prompted by new social conditions.' This statement indicates a
huge conceptual leap on the part of Torres: modernization necessarily
includes new social structures. But inApril 1931 theDictatorship fell,
and Spain became a republic under disastrous economic conditions. It
was not a time for the new social structures thatTorres Clave had
envisaged, or for the ambitious building programmes of the previous
years. Although young architects of theperiod began to respond to new
developments in the rest of Europe, their efforts, in the face of social
and technological stagnation, could amount to littlemore than super?
ficial imitations.
For example, there is little in a block of flats by Josep Lluis Sert in
Muntaner Street (Fig. 15) to deserve the label rationalism? indeed the
building is unashamedly traditional. Although the site is on a corner,
theplan is symmetrical; thekitchens are located upstairs, requiring the
use of dumb-waiters; and thereare windows inpositions where theyare
? and
impossible to clean. This awkward layoutwas in fact deliberate
all for the sake of form: the real aim was to reproduce, in triplicate, the
facade of Le Corbusier's Villa Stein-de Monzie. Why should such
honest Catalan designers engage in these earnest exercises in the Inter?
national Style (Figs. 16,17)? In spite ofwhat has been said, theymerely
represented the other side of the coin: both 'classicists' and 'rational?
ists'made use of a borrowed language inorder to conceal reality.
In 1936 thePopular Front won the elections, and on 18 Julycivil war
broke out (Fig. 13). Two weeks later a Union ofArchitects was set up.
The moving spirit behind itwas, of course, Josep Torres Clave. His
dream was to redefine the roles of architect and architecture. In a letter
to Sert he wrote: 'We have gained control of all thebuilding companies.
. We
. are going in everywhere, we know everything, we control all
the technical offices of the City Council, we have any projects that
occur to us written up. ... I have been named Commissioner of the
School of Architecture with full responsibilities.'11 Private contracts
were abolished, and what littlework therewas was shared out amongst
themembers. The union became involved in issuing decrees pertaining
12. Josep Torres Clave, architect
(1906-1939). 7J. Civil war, 1936-9.
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tomunicipalization and the collectivization of the building sector, in a
joint commission on administration and urban land control, and in
drawing up a new curriculum for students of architecture. The final
edition of theUnion's magazine, A. C., published in 1937, included the
following declaration: The revolution must not have been in vain; a
new order must be born from it. . . .Let us hope that in the emerging
society the logical solutions thatwe have been at pains towork out will
be heeded.'12 But itwas all invain: the victory of the rebel army turned
these hopes todust.
The period immediately following the civil war was dominated by
fanatical nationalism and a harsh economic policy aimed at self
sufficiency, necessitated by the second world war. The reconstruction
of Catalonia took place against a background of repression of and
reprisals against regional culture and institutions.The role of architects
returned to the strictlyformal one of thepre-revolutionary era (many of
themost radical architects had in any case been killed in the fighting),
and under the leadership of General Franco they resumed, in the name
of reconstruction, thebuilding programmes begun in 1901. The recon?
struction of whole villages and towns, with a view towiping out all
traces of the civil war, was carried out in accordance with themonu?
mentalist ideas of thenew regime (Fig. 14), as the following report sug?
gests: 'at theend of the street, in the garden area, a semicircular square
is laid out, at the centre ofwhich, on top ofwhat used tobe Communist
trenches, a monument will be raised to theVictory, with a commemor?
ative tablet inhonour of theAugust fighting.'
The responsibility of restoring the ancient quarter of Barcelona was
given toAdolfo Florensa (architect of Camb? House), who since 1929
had been in charge of buildings of historic or artisticmerit. Florensa's
policies were chiefly governed by his disdain for rationalist town
planning and a complete absorption with thehistoric centre of the city,
which he saw as a place for reverie:
The city as an image, and the impression it leaves on the soul, is the result of the
fusion of all its diverse aspects in a harmonious whole. The onlooker becomes
immersed in its atmosphere, as if in a dream, thus forgetting ordinary, everday
reality: those who can appreciate mis impression are able to savour it, for the
rest of their lives.13
In theirpreoccupation with historical continuity Florensa's ideas had a
notable similarity to those of theNoucentistas. He wrote: 'Justas the
seed contains the future tree in themaking, the littleBarcelona of the
year 1300 contained the essential organs which still give the city life:
theGovernment, theCathedral, theCity Council, theEpiscopal Palace
and theProvincial Council.'14 In otherwords, the citywas a biological
entity, and taking care of the head would ensure the good health of the
rest of the body ? and the continuity of the city's institutions. The
14. Reconstructed village, Tarragona, 1947.
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17. Housing by Sert, Torres, andSubirana, Barcelona, 1936-9.

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monuments had to be 'purified' of any extras that time had added, and proof of the desire for progress was offered in the form of low-cost
untidy facades had to be rearranged into symmetrical patterns, leaving housing for theworking class. The dire shortage of such housing in
a general feeling of order. Catalonia was largely due to the total lack of public or private money
available for it. Using the pretext of the forthcoming Congress the
he connection between Church and State inFranco's Spain is Church initiated the first ever fund-raising forworkers' housing, and
well known. From the very beginning of the civil war, the the houses built with thismoney are still called 'Eucharist Congress
-A. Church had supported Franco, referring to the Fascist revolt houses' (Fig. 20).
as a 'crusade'. In 1945 therewas a decree establishing a new parish in The Eucharist Congress marked the end of the role which the
Barcelona, and the number of churches in the citywas increased from Industrial Party had assigned to architects. In spite of theoccasional re?
61 to 159. The ideological intention is clear: tomake theweight of surgence of unpleasant monumentalist tendencies, architects became
religion felt in themost rebellious city of theSpanish State, to vanquish preoccupied with purity of form.After theGeneral Plan of Barcelona in
the ghost of Marxism, and with itRepublican dreams of separatism. 1953, the housing problem was dealt with in terms of profit and land
The architects responsible for these religious buildings borrowed speculation. The free-market economy, immigration, and the industri?
directly from historical precedents, mostly sixteenth- and seventeenth alization of Catalonia would make fresh demands on architects, and
century Italian designs; as with thework of Florensa, the aim was to their rolewould continue to change accordingly.
convey a sense of continuitywith thepre-Republican past (Fig .18).
In 1945, when Spain's Fascist allies had lost thewar, itbecame clear
Notes
that the country could not survive without an exportmarket and foreign
aid, that its futurewould depend increasingly on relations with demo? 1. Francesc Roca, Poltiica Econdmica i Territori a Catalunya 1901-1939 (Barcelona,
cratic Europe. Spain had thedelicate task of presenting itselfas a friend 1980), p. 18.
of Europe, without renouncing Fascism, and thisnecessitated a gradual 2. Josep Puig i Cadafalch, 'Barcelona d'anys a venir', La Veu de Catalunya, 29
December 1900.
move away fromNational Socialism, towards anti-Communist Cathol?
3. Josep Puig iCadafalch, 'A rotar per la Exposici?n Universal', La Veu de Catalunya,
icism. The Catholic Church, through the friendship between Pope Pius 11November 1905.
XII and Franco, acted as the linkbetween Spain and the restof Europe, 4. Carles Card?, 'Doctrina estetica del Dr Torras y Bages', catalana XI
Enciclopedia
with theblessing of theAmericans, who saw thisas the consolidation of (Ed. Catalana, 1918), pp. 159-60.
their imperialist aims. 5. Francesc Sitja, 'De Tart Ciasich', inAlmanack dels noucentistas, edited by Joaquim
Horta
(Barcelona, 1911).
The Eucharistie Congress which took place in 1952 was, on the one
6. Joaquim Torres Garcia, Unenemic del p?ble (Barcelona, 1918).
hand, a response to theneed to establish international relations and, on 7. 'La magie des mots n'est pas assez puissante pour servir de support ? un monde o? les
the other, a sop to theworking class, who were secretly starting to choses sont devoilees dans leur relativite.' Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Lettre de Lord

organize themselves, particularly in Barcelona. Three aspects of the Chandosetautre essais (Paris, 1980), p. 312.
ft.
8. Barcelona City Council, Les construccions escolars de Barcelona
Congress are of interest in this discussion. First, themajority of the (1922), p. 185.
9. Adolfo Florensa, 'La casa per a despatxos mes alta de laVia Laietana', La ciutat i la
mass activities took place on the slopes ofMontjuic, and thewhole city
casa 2 (Barcelona, 1925), p. 3.
became animated in a way that recalled the delirious nights of 1929 ? 10. Francesc Folguera, Amies
'Arquitectura moderna', de l'Art lit?rgic, November
an attempt tomake an apparently natural connection between 1929 and 1928.
1952, and to erase the years of 'conflict'. In order to present Spain as a 11. Letter from Torres Clave to Josep Llui's Sert, published in 2.C. nos. 15, 16 4
country looking towards the future, a technological exhibition was (Barcelona, 1980), pp. 107-8.
12. A. C. no. 25, Barcelona, June 1937, p. 3.
planned to take place during a period which included the religious feast 13. Adolfo Florensa, La valoracion urbanistica del Circuito romano (Barcelona, 1964),
of the Pentecost. To celebrate it the biggest altar in the world was
p. 30. I
erected in the centre of the avenue which cuts diagonally across the 14. Adolfo Florensa, 'La semilla y el ?rbol', El Noticiero Universal, 6 October 1969, I
.05
middle of Barcelona (Fig. 19). Above itwas a great circle, a symbol of p. 11.
6
theEucharist, on three supports representing Faith, Hope and Charity,
in the formof a cross and two support beams. A chronicler of theperiod
wrote: 'thismonumental altar appears before our imagination like an ?On

enormous nave of a church inwhich we can perceive the aesthetics of

the packet-boat, as well as thatof the constructivists'. More enduring
?
to

?S

19. Eucharist Barcelona, 1952. I

Congress,

2
Ui
H
So
2flu
18. Church built inBarcelona in1953. 20. Model of the Congress Houses, Barcelona, 1952. O

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