August 7, 2025

By Ferran Garcés 

On August 10, 1870, that is, exactly one hundred and fifty-five years ago today, a young Gaudí wrote: “Ornamentation, in order to be interesting, must represent objects that remind us of poetic ideas that constitute motifs. Motifs are historical, legendary, action-based, emblematic, fabulous, regarding man and his life, actions and passion. And, as for nature, they may represent the animal and plant kingdoms and topography” (1)
 
This phrase is part of the so-called “Reus Manuscript,” a diary written between 1870, the year Gaudí entered the School of Architecture, and 1878, the year he obtained his architect’s degree. During that student period, Gaudí also wrote other texts—few in number. In all of them, he repeated the idea with which we opened this article, making clear from the beginning what would become one of the most representative traits of his art: functionality and poetry. For example, in a text explaining the candelabras of Plaça Reial, one of his first commissions, he said: “in the streets, austere comfort is not enough; art must dress them,” citing the ornamentation of public places in Athens and Rome as examples (2)
 
However, of all those youthful writings, the most interesting is perhaps the one titled La casa pairal, intended to describe Gaudí’s ideal home, by Gaudí himself. Since the original has no date, it’s difficult to specify when it was written, although it seems certain it was sometime during the drafting of The Reus Manuscript (3). Below we reproduce some of the most relevant aspects of this text.
 
Ownership and rental, countryside and city
 
The following points are original phrases by Gaudí himself (4). In the photo, you can read them in his own handwriting.

The house is the small nation of the family
The family, like the nation, has history, foreign relations, changes of government, etc.
The independent family has its own house; the one that isn’t, lives in a rented house.
The owned house is the native country; the rented one is the country of emigration. That’s why the owned house is everyone’s ideal.
The family home has been given the name “casa pairal.” With this name, who doesn’t recall some beautiful example in the countryside or the city? The spirit of profit and changes in consumption have made most of the “casas pairals” disappear from our city; those that remain are in such an oppressed and insufficient situation that it will eventually end them.
The need for the “casa pairal” is not just of a specific time or family—it is a need for everyone and always.

 
Functionality and poetry
 
Next, Gaudí describes in detail the different sections of an ideal house, with more or less “predictable” details, such as the orientation of rooms based on lighting needs in summer and winter. At the end, however, he specifies a detail that reminds us of the initial phrase of this article, written—let’s remember—on a day like today, one hundred and fifty-five years ago:
 
“There are represented family memories, historical deeds, local legends, the delicate conceptions of our poets, the spectacles and scenes of Mother Nature, everything that has meaning and value. In a word: from children to children.”
 

The end of La casa pairal goes like tthis;

In short, the house he imagines has two purposes: first, through its hygienic conditions, to produce strong and robust beings (those who grow and develop in it), and second, through artistic conditions, to endow them, as far as possible, with our proverbial strength of character.
 
In a word, to make the children born there true children of the “casa pairal.”
 
Torre Bellesguard, an example of functionality and poetry
 
Torre Bellesguard is a good example of Gaudí’s youthful ideal. On one hand, its first owners, the Figueras family, had more than one child and shared the architect’s ideals. For example, they were all part of the Sant Lluç Artistic Circle, a center frequented by other friends and collaborators of Gaudí such as the Llimona brothers and Joan Rubió (see: Jaume Figueras)   
On the other hand, the house is full of practical details, such as rainproof systems (see: slate, double roof, and drains), and at the same time, poetic ornamentation, combining both “local legends” and “scenes of Mother Nature,” as recommended by the young Gaudí (see: the legends of Bellesguard).  
With this goal in mind, Gaudí not only built the house but also restored the ruins of the old palace that stood on the estate (see: Architect and restorer). In the lobby window, light, religious symbolism, and gnomonics—the science behind sundials and light effects in ancient temples—are even combined (see: the joy of light)

Orphanage and Maternity

Even more curious. Let’s remember that young Gaudí is constantly talking about children—strong and characterful children. Well, he couldn’t have known, but a decade after his death, during the Spanish Civil War, Torre Bellesguard became an orphanage, a place where a group of boys and girls could take refuge far from the combat zone. Moreover, after the war, the Guilera family, the second owners of the house, turned Torre Bellesguard into a maternity hospital, where a large number of children were born (see: the children of Bellesguard and Born at Bellesguard).

Now we know what Gaudí’s ideal house was like—at least when he was young and still had an uncertain future ahead. Unfortunately, fate meant that this promising student never formed a family or raised his own children. Even more curious, many of the houses where Gaudí lived in Barcelona were rented or belonged to a relative, such as a maternal aunt. Moreover, none of them were in the modernist style. Finally, when he bought one, at over fifty years old, it was the work of another architect. Only during the last eight months of his life did Gaudí live in a place designed by himself—but it wasn’t a house, it was the workshop of the Sagrada Família.
 
We’ll talk more about all this next Friday. 

Notes 

(1) Puig-Boada, Isidre (1981) Gaudi Pensamiento. Compilación de textos y comentarios. GPublications of the College of Architects of Catalonia, Barcelona, p. 28. 

There is a more recent and uptodated publication: Mercader, Laura (2002) Antoni Gaudí. Escritos y documentos., Acantilado, Barcelona.

From The Reus Manuscript, there is also a deluxe edition: Editor (2024), Gaudí, Reus Manuscript, Hartley & Marks Publishers Ltd.

(2) Ibid., p. 18. The official name of this writing, as it was submitted to the Barcelona City Council, is: “Candelabrum – Descriptive Notes on the Group Candelabra Project, for Squares and Boulevards of the City of Barcelona.” 

(3) Ibid., p. 10 (search for letter E) 

(4)Ibid., pp. 73–75