August 22, 2025

By Ferran Garcés

Last Friday, we looked at the houses where Gaudí spent his childhood and adolescence (see: Reus and Riudoms). Today we’ll search for the addresses from his first period in Barcelona’s Ciutat Vella, when he was still a young architecture student (1868–1876). Next Friday we’ll discover the homes where that young man, now graduated, lived while working on the projects that made him famous. A route that will take us to areas that were just beginning to be urbanized at the time (1876–2026). However, as we’ll soon see, Ciutat Vella was also undergoing major reforms while Gaudí lived there. Reforms that involved not only grand constructions but also major demolitions.

Barcelona – Gothic Quarter
Student period (1868–1876)

Three key dates to understand the Barcelona Gaudí knew.

  • First, 1854: authorization to demolish the city walls. A demolition that wouldn’t be as swift as hoped.
  • Second, 1860: inauguration of the Cerdà Plan, which would urbanize the land beyond the old walls. The plan would undergo many changes.
  • Third, 1868: the year Gaudí arrived in Barcelona, the year of the Cuban War, which gave its name to a well-known literary group, the Generation of ’68, and the year of the September Revolution, also known as “La Gloriosa,” which ended the reign of Isabella II of Spain. As a result of the new political climate, Barcelonans were also able to destroy one of the most hated areas of the city: the Citadel fortress, a symbol of repression after the 1714 siege of Barcelona. In its place, the City Council planned a large public park that would later be part of the 1888 Exhibition. Gaudí didn’t know it yet, but he would make his debut in this park, located just a few meters from his first residence in Ciutat Vella.

When he arrived in the Catalan capital, the future architect was sixteen years old. He first completed his final year of secondary school and then began university entrance studies. He entered the School of Architecture in 1873, just before turning twenty-two (1). He earned his degree in 1878. While studying, he worked as a draftsman for other architects involved in major city reforms, an experience that allowed him to develop not only his architectural talent but also his skills as an urban planner.

He also spent a lot of time walking and studying the buildings and streets around him. Some, like the city walls, were about to be demolished; others, like the park, were about to emerge.

Placeta de Montcada, 12 (1868 – c. 1870)
Until the final years of his life, Gaudí never lived alone. A member of his family always accompanied him. His first residence in Barcelona, a rented room in a back shop, was shared with his brother Francesc, who aspired to become a doctor.

Next to Placeta de Montcada is a street of the same name, referring to a powerful family, the Montcadas. The surrounding area, the Born and Ribera neighborhoods, is often described as one of the best examples of Gothic Barcelona. However, recent studies suggest it’s not as medieval as it seems, although it once was (2). Today, this area—home to the Picasso Museum and other tourist attractions—is visited by thousands of people each year. In Gaudí’s time, it consisted of a dense cluster of modest apartment buildings and shops.

Carrer Montcada, 1889–1905 – Author: Unknown – Historical Archive of the City of Barcelona AHCB-AFC.

From their rented room, the Gaudí brothers were very close to the sea. But at that time, the Customs House, the Columbus monument, the current França train station, the Born Market, the Ciutadella Park, and Via Laietana had not yet been built. The port of Barcelona that welcomed the Gaudí brothers looked very different. Note that the old medieval city wall was still visible in this area, and this section—known as the sea wall—was not demolished until around 1888.

Sea Wall (now Passeig Colom), Joan Martí, 1870–1879. Barcelona Photographic Archive.

In mid-1870, the Gaudí brothers returned to Reus and Riudoms, where Anton reunited with two school friends. The three spent time at one of their homes in Espluga de Francolí, from where they visited the ruins of the Poblet Monastery and drafted a restoration project, with Gaudí responsible for the architectural part. It was likely there that he learned about the history of Martí I the Humane, builder of the old Bellesguard palace, since this king is buried in the mentioned monastery.

Carrer de l’Espaseria, 10 (c. 1870–1871)
As mentioned, Gaudí never lived alone. A family member always accompanied him. Two years after the Gaudí brothers arrived in Barcelona, their parents decided to move to the big city with Rosa, the third child. This required finding a slightly larger home. The move to the second residence wasn’t difficult, as it was only 150 meters from the previous one.

The new address recalls the old medieval guilds. The espasers were sword makers. Another nearby street is Argenteria, the silversmiths’ area (argent means silver in Latin). Both streets connect to Santa Maria del Mar, the famous “Cathedral of the Sea,” popularized by Ildefonso Falcones’ novel. It’s also known as the “Cathedral of the Poor,” and the surrounding neighborhood was equally humble.

From this address, one could see the space that would become Ciutadella Park, but at the time, the land was still occupied by some buildings from the old fortress, which had not yet been fully demolished.

Appearance of the Ciutadella fortress in 1870. Author unknown. Source: Wikipedia

Carrer Montjuïc de Sant Pere, 16, now Carrer de Verdaguer i Callís, 16 (1872–1873)
The first two streets we’ve seen so far are very close to the port. The third Gaudí residence begins to move away from the sea. In the following years, the family would gradually move closer to the mountains, following the city’s natural expansion at the time.

Once again, the surroundings of the Gaudí family’s third residence were very different from today. In fact, it was the area of Ciutat Vella destined to undergo the most radical transformation of all. Two changes, incidentally, contemporary with the construction of Torre Bellesguard.

First, in 1904, in front of Carrer Montjuïc de Sant Pere, construction began on the Palau de la Música Catalana, an iconic building of the city, both then and now (see: Between Wagner and Clavé). It was the work of Lluís Domènech i Montaner, another of the great modernist architects. Gaudí would frequent it regularly years later. He even attended a Gregorian chant course there in 1916, with one of his best friends, the musician Lluís Millet (see: Return to the Origin).

Second, in 1908, the opening of Via Laietana began, a reform that led to the disappearance of about 85 streets, 2,200 houses—many of them medieval palaces and monasteries—and the forced displacement of around 10,000 people. As Sergi Hernández says in a Betevé report, “It’s no coincidence that during the Tragic Week of 1909, many of the people who participated in the protests were former residents of the vanished neighborhood.” (3) The current Carrer Verdaguer i Callís, where Gaudí lived, survived. However, the city around it was no longer the same and would continue to change, with more demolitions and new constructions…

Riera de Sant Joan, 1908. AFB, Jaume Vidal i Ventosa. Arxiu Fotogràfic de Barcelona.

Carrer de Sant Rafael, 26, or Carrer Cadena, 22. Today, Rambla del Raval (1873–1876)

February 1873: proclamation of the First Spanish Republic, which would last until December 1874. Shortly before the failure of this government, in October 1874, Gaudí enrolled in the newly established School of Architecture. In early 1875, the architect was called up for military service, but as he was a student, he didn’t have to go to the front lines of the Third Carlist War (1872–1876). He served in the administrative corps in the rear, without having to leave the city.

At that time, he and his family lived in a new residence, which according to some sources was at Carrer de Sant Rafael, 26, and according to others, at Carrer Cadena, 22. In any case, it was on a corner. Today, however, almost no trace remains due to the recent opening of the Rambla del Raval in the year 2000.

It’s curious to think about the proximity of this residence to the Hospital de la Santa Creu, the place where the architect would die in 1926. Another coincidence: the first stone of this hospital was laid in the presence of King Martí I the Humane, lord of Bellesguard in 1409, and of Lluís de Gualbes, an ancestor of Joan Gualbes, the owner of Bellesguard in 1714, the year of the siege of Barcelona.

Today, this hospital has been transformed into the National Library of Catalonia and, around it, many homes have been rehabilitated, along with the construction of modern museums like MACBA and CCCB. However, for a long time, the Raval was one of the neighborhoods with the worst reputation: home to workers and immigrants, dark and narrow streets, labor struggles, the “Barri Xino”… On the other hand, this is also the neighborhood where Gaudí would build the magnificent Palau Güell in 1890. However, the patron and the architect had not yet met—but they would soon: in 1878.

By around 1876, from his home next to the hospital where he would die forty-six years later, Gaudí had begun working as a draftsman for various architects. His first opportunity came from the master builder Josep Fontseré, responsible for exorcising the memory of the Citadel fortress with a public park of the same name. It seems Gaudí worked on part of the monumental waterfall and, entirely, on the perimeter fence of the park, including the entrance gate (6). The sculptures flanking it, the work of Agapit Vallmitjana, were placed later.

Entrance to Parc de la Ciutadella, ca. 1888–1901. Author: Léon & Lévy. Wikipedia.

Unfortunately, the year 1876 did not bring only good news. Within a short time, his brother—recently graduated—and his mother died. It seems this personal tragedy motivated the next change of address. Another possible reason: as wealthier families were moving to the newly built Eixample, perhaps the promising student wanted to be closer to them, rightly imagining it would be a zone full of opportunities for an architect. Next Friday, we’ll see which were Gaudí’s next addresses. It was from those homes that he would build the works that would make him famous…

Notes

(1) At that time, this institution was very new. “Higher education in architecture did not begin in Barcelona until 1871, at the Free School, which became the official Higher School of Architecture in 1875, initially located on the second floor of the magnificent Gothic building of the Llotja de Barcelona.”
— Tarragona i Clarasó, Josep Maria, (2016), Gaudí, the Architect of the Sagrada Família, Torsimany Books, p. 36

In this book, the author details the political and personal context of Gaudí during each year of his studies. Op. cit., p. 35–76

(2) Montanyà, Xavier (19/07/2020), “Carrer de Montcada, the true story that explains a country”, VillaWeb

Montañes, José Ángel (28/06/2020), “Autopsy of Carrer Montcada”, El País

(3) Aguilera, Gemmma (23/04/2025), “The Barcelona that the first Via Laietana erased from the map”, TotBarcelona

Editorial team: “The construction of Via Laietana”, Barcelona.cat

(4) Op. cit., Tarragona i Clarasó, Josep Maria, (2016), p. 48–54