Casa Battló 13 May 2016

Casa Batlló

[This entry has been damaged while upgrading the editor.]

We stayed on the bus until we got to Casa Batlló, where we stood briefly in line and then joined the throngs (at least 50% Asian) viewing the place. Remembering that double-L is a Y in Catalan and Spanish, that makes this place Casa Batt-Yo. 

This is Gaudi's best. The Batlló family made a fortune importing and packaging xocolat. From the big to the little, every detail of the building of this house was controlled by the Master, and this house is a masterpiece.

The color on the roof and the facade is made with tiles salvaged from buildings being torn down. Likewise, the light and heat in the building are elegantly managed with skylights, louvers, and doors. I could go on and on about the beauties of this house...

The family living room looks out on the street, Passeig de Gracia. The counterweighted windows lift vertically from the curved fixed lower rail. The light is carefully controlled by the leaded glass windows above, so it's never too bright. 

The house was rebuilt by Gaudi at the behest of a textile mogul for himself and his family. There were no plans. Gaudi worked with a cadre of craftsmen who understood him, but Gaudi was constantly on site, directing his crews of expert furniture makers, tile-setters, bricklayers, and plasterers.

The theme throughout the house was underwater, with fish scales for the roof, and watery imagery even in the plastering of the living room ceiling. The richness of color; the modulation of the walls, ceiling, and even the doors and transoms; the warmth of the wood grain, all make a harmony that I have never seen in another building, not even Casa Pedrera just up the Passeig de Gracia. 

The furniture, also by Gaudi, is long gone (to make space for the hoardes that visit) but samples follow the same curvilinear theme. "Nature doesn't do straight," Gaudi is known to have insisted, and nature, clearly, is the basis for his innovation.

About here, Rochelle said, "I want to live in this house." (Quizzed a little later, she admitted that the house would have to be moved out into the country.)

Light from the skylight, modulated by the tiles – note that they are lighter as the go down the shaft – brightly illuminates the entry to room C two floors below.

about the background:

I first saw, photographed, and devised this background for the Barcelona pages of our 2001 visit. We stepped off the bus at Casa Batlló and immediately saw it underfoot again: guess whose work? Of course, Antonio Gaudi!