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History

In his professional prime, when he had already created his own style and a way of working independent of historical styles, Antoni Gaudí designed Casa Milà (1906-1912), also known as La Pedrera. This would become his last civil work, as well as one of the most innovative in functional, constructive and ornamental aspects.

Princes, diplomats, lawyers, notaries, doctors, textile and automobile businesspeople, actors, artists, journalists, politicians, spies, psychics and military officers have lived in the building.

Appreciation for Gaudí’s work has evolved over time, from controversial and neglected to universally admired, consolidating La Pedrera as a fundamental work of architecture in Barcelona.

“When the building simply has what it needs with the available resources, it has character or it has dignity, which is the same thing.” - Antoni Gaudí

History of La Pedrera

1906

Project and construction

Rosario Segimon and Pere Milà commissioned Gaudí to build their new house. On 2 February 1906, the plans were presented to the City Council and work began. In 1909, the Eixample Commission certified that the building was monumental in character and did not have to comply strictly with municipal ordinances. On 31 October 1912, Gaudí certified the completion of the work and declared that, according to his plans and his direction, the whole house was ready to be rented.

The construction aroused a great deal of interest and several reports were written about it, such as the one in the magazine La Edificación Moderna (1908), which praises Gaudí’s work for its originality “in the art of building”. It is said that Gaudí was concerned with satisfying the needs of modern life “without the nature of the materials or their conditions of resistance being an obstacle limiting his freedom of action,” and described the column structure as a novelty to achieve large, very bright spaces.

1906

1912

First tenants and first refurbishment

The first tenants were friends or acquaintances of the Milà-Segimon couple. Illustrious names such as Paco Abadal, owner of the car brand Abadal y Cía. Alberto I. Gache, Consul of the Republic of Argentina. Dr Jaume Queraltó i Ros who rented part of the main floor. Antoni Feliu Prat, textile entrepreneur. He was one of the first to have a motor car in the building, a Rolls-Royce for which Gaudí had to modify the entrance to the garage, located in the basement. Egyptian Prince Ibrahim Hassan, diplomat and businessman. Pensión Hispano-Americana and the Baladia family.

Rosario Segimon never liked Gaudí’s decoration of her flat, so, after his death, she ordered part of the flat to be demolished: 532.50 square metres of suspended ceilings, and also called for new works by decorator Modest Castañé i Lloret. The rooms affected were the party room, the hall and the foyer - with the corresponding mezzanines - the office and lounge, the living/dining room, the bedroom and the corridor. She also had the parquet flooring and shutters removed, and twenty doors and windows were replaced.

1912

1929

Retail and civil war

First shops on the ground floor of the building: Sastrería Mosella, Marbel lingerie shop, Colmado Solé, Esteban Roigé furniture shop and Hotel-Pensión Sáxea.

The military coup d’état of 17 July 1936 ushered in three years of Spanish civil war. La Pedrera was seized and for much of the war, it was the headquarters of various departments of the Republican Government.

During the civil war, the Milà-Segimon couple lived between Blanes and l’Aleixar in Tarragona. At the end of the war, in 1939, they returned to Passeig de Gràcia.

1929

1940

New owners

Pere Milà died on 22 February 1940. New tenants continue to arrive: Roca Sastre Muncunill family, the “notary of La Pedrera”; Yglesias-Rovira family, Monset family, Vallés-Tuset family. The first establishment of Perfumería Magda, one of the luxury shops of the post-war period, is set up on the ground floor of Passeig de Gràcia.

In 1946, Rosario Segimon sold the building to Compañía Inmobiliaria Provenza, SA (CIPSA), although she continued to live on the main floor. The last contract she signed was with her nephew, painter Pere Segimon.

1940

1947

Short-stay flats and first recognitions

In 1953, F. J. Barba Corsini designed fourteen apartments in the attic. The flats, intended for short stays, included furniture designed by the architect himself.

Aureli Bisbe’s jewellery workshop, the Kind toyshop, Dr Trias i Pujol, Italian journalist Alfredo Giorgio Messori, notary Eladi Crehuet Pardas, urologist Antoni Puigvert and the company Ciments Molins.

On 30 October 1962 La Pedrera was listed in the Catalogue of Historical and Artistic Heritage of the City of Barcelona. It was the first inventory to be drawn up in Spain for the conservation of the city’s monuments.

On 27 June 1964, Rosario Segimon died.

Gaudí and La Pedrera are gradually beginning to be appreciated. In 1956, the first exhibition dedicated to the architect was held, promoted by the association Amics de Gaudí and curated by J.M. Sostres, Oriol Bohigas and Joan Prats. A highly modern exhibition, it features objects, models and large-format photographs of all the buildings, taken by Català-Roca. Among the objects are three grilles from the ground floor of La Pedrera. The grilles were later given to Amics de Gaudí and are currently on display in the garden of the Gaudí House Museum at Park Güell.

George R. Collins, architectural historian and founder of Friends of Gaudí in the United States, was portrayed in several spaces of the building. He was staying at the Hotel-Pension Sáxea. Collins promoted the exhibition “Gaudí” at the MoMA in New York. From La Pedrera, there was a grille from the ground floor belonging to an American collector. A few years later, this grille became part of the MoMA collection.

Waseda University architect Kenji Imai founded the Friends of Gaudí Association in Japan. Imai promoted Gaudí’s heritage in Japan and visits La Pedrera on several occasions.

1947

1966

New uses and recognition of heritage

Architect Gil Nebot adapted the former home on the main floor as the offices for the Northern insurance company.

In 1979, the main floor was rented to the businessman and publisher Olegario Sotelo Blanco. On the Carrer de Provença side, there is an art gallery, and on the Passeig de Gràcia side, a bingo hall run by Centro Aragonés de Sarrià.

On 20 August 1969, the Spanish government registered the building, along with fifteen other works by Gaudí, as a historic-artistic monument of national interest. When the Catalan Cultural Heritage Law came into force, La Pedrera was automatically included on the list of cultural assets of national interest (BCIN), which is the highest distinction and protection of heritage.

On 2 November 1984, together with Parc Güell and Palau Güell, La Pedrera - Casa Milà was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO for its outstanding universal value.

On 1 December 1976, part of the garage was opened as a shopping centre, Mercadillo or Pedrera Market, with fifty boutiques: from shops selling leather goods, perfumes, records and souvenirs to a bookshop and a garden centre, among others. A photography shop, the fashion house Parera, the leather goods shop Marpal, a snack bar and a tobacconist had already set up shop on the ground floor. And new tenants, Industries Jardí, Detectives Jamip, Ramos&Arroyo abogados. Carmen Burgos-Bosch and Lluís Roca Sastre Muncunill, notary and son of the notary of La Pedrera, settled permanently.

In 1971 a large piece of stone fell from the first floor. The lack of conservation was clear. The corresponding repairs were carried out under the direction of the architect Antonio Comas de Mendoza.

1966

1986

Treasure rediscovered

In December 1986, Caixa Catalunya bought the building and began restoration work after years of neglect.

In July 1992, the refurbishment of the main floor was inaugurated as an exhibition hall, and two years later the old garage was used as an auditorium.

The building’s attic houses the first permanent exhibition on Gaudí’s life and works, the first in a Gaudí building.

In June 1996, restoration work was completed on the entire building and it was opened to the public as a cultural centre.

1986

2013

News

The Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation was born, a private and independent foundation that allocates all the resources generated by its activities to social, environmental, educational and cultural projects. Each year, projects are developed to promote talent, creation and education, while preserving the natural and cultural heritage.

The Foundation is the current owner of the La Pedrera building, a unique space that combines multiple uses. It is its institutional headquarters, is open to the public for day and night visits, is a cultural centre that hosts exhibitions, conferences and activities, has rented spaces, company offices and shops on the ground floor, while maintaining its original function as a residential rented housing building.

The Foundation works hard to make all uses compatible with the large number of visitors, while maintaining optimum levels of visitor quality and the conservation of a world heritage site of the highest order.

La Pedrera has been visited by more than 29 million people, and more than 90 exhibitions have been organised in the hall on the main floor, which consolidates the Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation as a prestigious cultural benchmark in the city of Barcelona.

2013

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History of La Pedrera

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