The Casa Lleó Morera () is a building designed by noted modernisme architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner, located at Passeig de Gràcia 35 in the

Eixample The Eixample (, ) is a district of Barcelona between the old city (Ciutat Vella) and what were once surrounding small towns (Sants, Gràcia, Sant Andreu, etc.), constructed in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Its population was 262,000 at ...

district of

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. In 1902 Francesca Morera assigned Lluís Domènech i Montaner to remodel ancient "casa Rocamora", built in 1864. She died in 1904, and the building was named after her son, Albert Lleó i Morera. The building is located on the corner of Carrer del Consell de Cent, and is one of the three important buildings of Barcelona's Illa de la Discòrdia ("Block of Discord"), and it is the only building of the block awarded Barcelona's town council's Arts Building Annual Award (Concurso anual de edificios artísticos), obtained in 1906. The building lost some of its most representative elements, such as the ''tempietto'' on its top (now restored) and the ground floor and mezzanine's architectural sculpture. The building is also known as the residence of Cuban- Catalan photographer Pau Audouard.

The building

The building was not only the result of an architectural project, but —common practice in Catalan modernism architecture—, several artists collaborated with Domènech i Montaner so as to make a complete artwork, inspired in natural and organic motifs: Lluís Bru and Mario Maragliano were responsible of the mosaic work, Eusebi Arnau made the sculptures, Antoni Serra i Fiter elaborated the ceramics, and Gaspar Homar designed the decoration and the furniture. Illustration of the entrance. It has been considered that Morera's family wanted to leave trace of their lineage with the continuous references to their family name (''Morera'', which means ''mulberry tree'' in English) in the decoration. Some examples are the mulberry tree found in the patio, the mulberry motifs of the door handles or the portraits made by Antoni Serra in the second floor. The façade and ground floor of the building were decorated with big and varied modernist ornaments, with some outstanding sculptures by Eusebi Arnau surrounding the entrance, which represented two couples of feminine figures holding vases. Those sculptures were installed on double pairs of columns made of pink marble, and under the gallery of the first floor, other feminine heads could be found. On the first floor, aside the windows, two couples of feminine figures can also be found, showing several objects related to the technological improvements made in that period, such as the

phonograph A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration Waveform, waveforms are recorded as correspond ...

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

telephone A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...

and

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

. Barcelona's official chronicler Lluís Permanyer stated that this building is like "a scaled Palau de la Música Catalana." The building has been considered one of the best examples of modernisme architecture, but Noucentisme supporters performed several modifications to the original structure. In 1943, Raimon Duran i Reynals signed a refurbishing project for the ground floor, designed by Francisco Ferrer Bartolomé according to an assignment by Loewe so as to open a store. This project included the disappearance of the modernist windows and the ground floor feminine modernist plant boxes made by Eusebi Arnau, which were destroyed on the sidewalk using picks. The building caretaker later recovered the feminine heads, which were sold to

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...

, who installed them in Figuere's Teatre-Museu Dalí's patio. In the mid-1980s, architect Òscar Tusquets was commissioned to restore the building. The

pinnacle A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was main ...

s and the tempietto at the top of the structure, severely damaged by machine guns during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

were restored, and the ground floor damage was partially recovered. The building underwent another restoration process in 1992, and was bought by Grupo Núñez y Navarro in 2006, responsible for another restoration operation. In 2007 the building was put on the Art Nouveau European Route. In April 2012 the most recent restoration project was completed, focused on the ground floor. Several elements such as the carriage entrance, several columns and some mosaics were recovered.

Gallery

File:DiM-LleoMorera-0116.jpg, Sculpture by Eusebi Arnau, holding a

File:Casa Lleó Morera - 003.jpg, Third floor gallery File:Casa Lleó Morera - 005.jpg, Second floor balcony File:Casa Lleó Morera 01.jpg, Tempietto at the top of the building File:DiM Lleo Morera 9824.jpg, Mosaic in the ceiling of the Tempietto File:126 Saló del pis principal de la casa Lleó Morera.jpg, Main Floor Saloon by Gaspar Homar, conserved at

Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya The (; ), abbreviated as MNAC (), is a museum of Catalonia, Catalan visual art located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Situated on Montjuïc hill at the end of Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina, near Plaça d'Espanya, Barcelona, Pl Espanya, th ...

. File:Casa Lleo i Morera Primer Pis.JPG, Stained glass gallery, first floor File:Casa Lleo i Morera.JPG, vestibule

References

Bibliography

External links

Barcelona Tourist Guide: Casa Lleó-Morera
{{DEFAULTSORT:Casa Morera Buildings and structures in Barcelona Lluís Domènech i Montaner buildings Eixample Passeig de Gràcia Art Nouveau houses Houses completed in 1906 Houses in Catalonia Modernisme architecture in Barcelona 1906 establishments in Spain

The building

Gallery

See also

References

Bibliography

External links