La Pedrera / Casa Mila - Barcelona

The famous and outstanding Casa Milà in Barcelona - Spain, also known as La Pedrera is a beautiful building designed and constructed by the architect Antoni Gaudí between 1906 and 1910. It is located in Paseo de Gracia Avenue number 92, one of the most emblematic and stylish streets in the modernist Ensanche district.

La Pedrera was Antoni Gaudi’s last great civil construction before he devoted himself entirely to the Sagrada Familia temple, also located in the city of Barcelona (a project that he could not finish before his tragic death)

A great admirer of Gaudi’s work, Mr Pere Milà Camps bought the land of more than 1.000 m2 where La Pedrera is currently located (Paseo de Gracia and Provenza Street). When he saw the unique beauty of Casa Batllo (another representative building of the architect also located in Paseo de Gracia) he did not hesitate to entrust the master with the construction of a big rental house in his new land. 

Gaudi built this fantastic house with undulating forms and curves, original twisted balconies and very few lines or straight planes. It was entirely built with natural stone and white tiles on the upper part.  In the roof Gaudí placed large chimneys also covered with white tiles forming different and original figures. The entire building is a typical gaudiana masterpiece that differed from the traditional canons and the neo-gothic or neo-romantic styles. For that reason, it caused amazement and even irony in many architects and intellectuals of that time.  

The construction was a ritual on itself.  First the stones were brought from Garraf or Vilafranca districts and placed in a solar. Then they were cut according to the scale model, placed in the construction and finally retouched according to Gaudi’s instructions.

The Casa Mila was constructed in such a way that according to Gaudi himself, the distribution can be very easily modified. It does not have any load-bearing walls, so a complete modification is possible by simply eliminating or moving the partitions.  
During the creation of La Pedrera some problems came up with the City Hall of Barcelona (Ayuntamiento de Barcelona), because some parts of the construction exceeded permitted dimension limits. Gaudí always defended his work with passion and conviction and finally, after many discussions, it was decided that the building had great artistic value and therefore, was not subject to bylaws. Gaudi was so pleased with the result that he asked for a copy of the official report. 

But the problems continued. Gaudi wanted to put a figure of the Rosario Virgin (Virgen del Rosario) flanked by San Gabriel and San Miguel archangels in the façade of La Pedrera. But his plans were cancelled. There are two versions that explain the reason: the first one affirms that Mr Mila did not like the Virgin sculpture made by the sculptor Carles Mani. The second version says that the owner of the building was afraid to have religious figures in it because of the riot of the ‘The Tragic Week’ (La semana trágica - from 26th July until 30th July 1909), when many churches were burnt in Barcelona. Also according to this version Antoni Gaudi was so upset with this decision that he almost abandoned the work, but he finally changed his mind after talking to a priest. 

Luckily, neither of these problems could stop the construction of the magnificent La Pedrera, which was declared world heritage by UNESCO on the 2nd November 1984.

Nowadays La Pedrera is owned by Caixa Cataluña bank and shows an exhibition of Gaudi’s work. Some floors are owned by private owners and in the main floor you can find Caixa Catalunya exhibition centre.

La Pedrera is one of Antoni Gaudi's most beautiful legacies to humankind. Every year visitors from every part of the world come to Barcelona to enjoy this amazing architectural and artistic masterpiece.