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The balconies of Casa Milà: 32 unique and distinct balconies
Functionality and aesthetics are maintained in La Pedrera forged elements.
Few images better illustrate the striking aesthetic impact of Casa Milà ’s façade than its balconies. A 1911 satire humorously depicted the wrought-iron balconies as resembling dried cod tails, with a sign hanging from the cornice reading: “Grand exhibition and sale of cod tripe.” The caption below the caricature added: “A house for rent, and it seems just fine, to sell codfish when Carnival time arrives.”
The building’s façade is extraordinary—not only for its columns, curtain walls and the shapes of its stones but also for its numerous balconies, each uniquely designed.
The façade features 32 balconies with intricate railings made from a fusion of scrap metal, plates, bars and iron chains. This combination, though unconventional, is highly effective, adhering to the guiding principles of Gaudí’s architecture: functionality and aesthetics.
On closer inspection, some balcony designs evoke animal shapes, masks and natural forms—particularly marine motifs—that have been compared to early 20th-century abstract sculpture.
The history of La Pedrera’s balconies
In 1910, during the final years of the building’s construction, the first railing was installed on the second apartment on the second-floor (apartment 2.2), which was the model apartment. This railing was crafted in the Badia brothers’ workshop in Barcelona, where Gaudí personally oversaw its production.
Gaudí also designed the first iron railings for the semi-basements. However, due to budget constraints—an issue encountered with other elements of La Pedrera—the remaining semi-basement railings were mass-produced with a uniform design, tailored to each window’s dimensions. Today, the building retains only two original railings at the Passeig de Gràcia entrance and a facsimile copy on Carrer de Provença. Over time, as shops were installed on the ground floor, many of the railings disappeared. Currently, just three original railings survive: two in the Casa Museu Gaudí at Park Güell and one in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
