Fotos

Casa Calvet, built by Antoni Gaudi - 1900 - Carrer Casp 48 - L'Eixample district - Barcelona. This building, designed for a textile manufacturer, served as both a commercial property ( in the basement where you can find an excellent restaurant now, and the ground floor) and a residence. Gaudi scholars say in chorus that this building is the most conventional of his work, partly because it had to be squeezed in between older structures and partly because it was sited in one of the most elegant sections of Barcelona. But I like it a lot. It was surprising to see a lemon tree in one of its balconies !! Its symmetry, balance and orderly rhythm are unusual for Gaudi's works. However, the curves and double gable at the top, the projecting oriel at the entrance - almost baroque in its drama, and isolated witty details are 'modernism' elements. Bulging balconies alternate with smaller, shallower balconies. Mushrooms above the oriel at the center allude to the owner's favorite hobby. Three sculpted heads at the top also allude to the owner: Sant Pere Màrtir Calvet i Carbonell (the owner's father) and two are patron saints of Vilassar de Mar, Mr Andreu's Calvet home town. Work cited: Lluis Permanyer ''Gaudi of Barcelona'.
When I walk to the city centre, I always have a look arund to the hundreds of modernism building in the Eixample District. Casa Calvet is not so well known in the Gaudi's itineraries, but I like it the most.