Bridges and Viaducts, Gaudí the Urban Planner 

By: Ferran Garcés 

First of all, we would like to thank Joan Torres, the director of the Clarà Library, for allowing us to photograph the model of a surprising work by Gaudí that was never realized. It is the Pomaret Bridge, dedicated to Saint Eulalia, a martyr born in Sarrià. This week marks her feast day. 

In addition to the model, right in front of Bellesguard, another admirable work of Gaudí can be found that did reach completion. Both works invite us to discuss an aspect of Gaudí that is often overlooked: his role as an urban planner. This side of him is reflected in major projects such as Park Güell, but also in smaller projects developed during his university studies, from small commissions in the Ciutadella Park and the streetlights for Plaça Real and Pla de Palau, to the design of kiosks for public spaces in Barcelona, which, like the Pomaret Bridge, sadly, were never realized. 

A New Path… 

The urban planning aspect consisted of modifying the old Cemetery path, which was the current Bellesguard Street, as it led to the Sant Gervasi cemetery. The original path crossed the ruins of a medieval palace. To better protect them, Gaudí diverted the path outside of the estate. However, the new available path had a ravine with a steep slope. To overcome the unevenness, the solution was to build a viaduct, using the same system he had planned for the Pomaret Bridge and would also use in Park Güell. Josep Maria Tarragona, the architect’s biographer, reminds us of the main features of these works: 

“In both cases, Gaudí is inspired by natural structures to imitate them perfectly (…) Thus, the weight of the path, which is what the viaduct must support, enters through the columns and reaches directly to the ground. This is exactly what nature does to form a mountain or to create a cave.” As a result, the completed work “does not seem artificial but seems like another construction of nature. In fact, it is, because it was made by a man who studied the constructive laws of nature and, once understood, used those laws to build his viaduct. With the idea of integrating the work into the mountainous landscape of the time, he covered the structure, made with bricks, with local stone.” (4)

A Much Wider Path 

If this project is already impressive on its own, it becomes even more striking when we consider that Gaudí’s mark on the Sant Gervasi landscape could have been much wider. Dated August 1, 1906, the plan of the bridge he wanted to cover the Pomaret stream, very close to Bellesguard Street, has been preserved. If it had been realized, it would have been about 150 meters long with twenty-five inclined pillars, very similar to those of the Bellesguard viaduct and Park Güell. On the other hand, as Joan Bassegoda, former Gaudí chair, notes, “It is interesting to consider that Gaudí designed reinforced concrete with Portland cement from the Asland factory in Castellar de n’Hug (Berguedà, Barcelona), owned by Eusebi Güell and inaugurated just two years earlier, in 1904” (5) 

The project’s promoters were a group of neighbors from the surroundings of the old Santa Eulàlia Street, now called Immaculada Street, very close to Bellesguard Street (6). For this reason, the design of the bridge included a large prayer: “Pray for us, pray for us” and the image of a cross of Saint Eulalia between each of these words. Unfortunately, like so many of Gaudí’s projects, the Pomaret Bridge was never built (7) 

For years, the bridge and viaduct project were subject to endless meetings between the City Council and the various landowners affected. A sign of the administrative difficulties behind public works. In the end, only the viaduct succeeded, and, by a narrow margin, even this was almost lost. It also highlights its vulnerability and need for protection. 

Providential Recovery 

In 2002, the International Gaudí Year was celebrated. With part of the proceeds, it was possible to minimally recover these two contemporary projects. On one hand, with the construction of a model of the Pomaret Bridge, based on the plans found in the Historical Archive of the City by Joan Bassegoda, then curator of the Gaudí chair. The model is displayed at the Clarà Library, as we mentioned earlier. 

On the other hand, the Bellesguard viaduct was restored, which at the time was in a deplorable state of neglect (7). What we see today is not the entire original work, which was slightly larger. Nonetheless, its partial recovery allows us to remember Gaudí’s surprising ability to combine, in addition to architecture, his skills as a craftsman, a pioneer of sustainability, and an urban planner. As we mentioned above, there remains the need to discuss a fourth aspect: that of landscape designer or garden designer. 

Notes 

(1) The change of the Cemetery path to Bellesguard Street was approved, along with the rectification of alignments, on December 28, 1905: Portavella Isidoro, Jesús (2003) Los calles de Barcelona: Sant Gervasi, Editorial Ayuntamiento de Barcelona, p. 

(2) Another parallel reason is that the owner of the estate, Maria Sagués, requested the modification of the Cemetery path to ensure that the two medieval towers remained within her property, with the commitment to cede the necessary land to adapt the new road path, as well as to finance the construction costs. 

(3) More construction details: Lanuza y Garriga, Anna de (2005), “Scientific report on the archaeological control of the cleaning and subsequent documentation of a section of the wall at Bellesguard Street 19-23 in Barcelona (Intervention code 102/05), Archaeological Service of Barcelona. Online reading: Report. 

(4) Redacción (8/04/2015), “The Bellesguard Viaduct, one of Gaudí’s most unknown works in Barcelona,” Betevé 

(5) Bassegoda Nonell, Juan (2002-2003), “An engineering work by Gaudí. The viaduct project over the Pomaret torrent in Sarrià,” Quaderns d’història de l’enginyeria, vol. V, pp.261 

Also see: Grima, R., Gómez Serrano, J., and Aguado de Cea, A., (2011), “The first examples of Gaudí with reinforced concrete,” Proceedings of the Seventh National Congress on the History of Construction, Santiago de Compostela, vol. 1, pp. 643-654. 

(6) More information about this street: Mestre, Jesús (20/02/2022), “The Inmaculada Street, the union of Sarrià with Sant Gervasi through the upper part,” Diari el Jardí. 

(7) The list of unfinished and/or never realized projects by Gaudí is painfully long. As one of his biographers says: “The mentioned ones are just a few examples of failed projects that have come to light. There could have been many more”: Van Hensbergen, Gijs (2002), Antoni Gaudí, Debolsillo, p. 93. 

Another unfinished project destroyed in the area was the villa of Lluís Graner, a painter and friend of Gaudí and, by the way, one of the promoters of the Pomaret Bridge. This villa would have been at a distnance of 5-minute walk from Torre Bellesguard. 

(8) Op. cit. Lanuza y Garriga, Anna de (2005) This archaeological report shows various images of the deplorable state of neglect.