Enric Catà i Catà (1878–1937) was a '' modernista''

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

from

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 ...

(Catalonia).

Early years and education

Enric was born in

Sant Feliu de Llobregat Sant Feliu de Llobregat () is an industrial city and municipality in Catalonia, Spain, in the province of Barcelona (province), Barcelona. It is the capital of the Comarques of Catalonia, comarca of Baix Llobregat, and the see of a Roman Catholic ...

. He was the son of Salvador Catà Rossell from

Arenys de Munt Arenys de Munt (, , ''arenys'' being Catalan for "sands (of a seasonal creek)", and ''de munt'' for "up hill" as opposed to Arenys de Mar, "sands by the sea") is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Maresme in Catalonia, Spain. It is situat ...

and Francisca Catà Faura of Sant Feliu de Llobregat. Enric Catà did his first studies in the Escolapis of

Terrassa Terrassa () is a city in central-eastern Catalonia and in the province of Barcelona (Spain). It is one of the two capitals of Vallès Occidental county, being the larger in both area and population. The name ''Terrassa'' derives from Latin ''Te ...

. During 1894–1895 he attained his

secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

in Barcelona and in 1895 began the

higher education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

, graduating in 1903 with a final project of a school of arts and jobs.Maspoch, Mònica. ''Galeria d'autors : ruta del modernisme'', (in Catalan) Barcelona. 1a ed. Barcelona: Institut del Paisatge Urbà i la Qualitat de Vida, 2008, p. 69. 4 d'agost 2013

Career

Enric Catà's professional career started with a dedication to both teaching and professional practice. At the Higher School of Architecture of Barcelona he spent more than twenty-five years, first as an auxiliary teacher and next as a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

. For twenty years he was municipal architect of

. His designs for private clients were also built in several municipalities in the demarcations of

Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...

and Barcelona. In October 1917 he was appointed municipal architect of Arenys de Munt, a position retained until his death in 1937. Commissioned by the

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

will project the graduated school, with a first project in 1917 that remained unrealised and, another of 1931–33 that was inaugurated in 1937. Other municipal works were: the bridge over the riera in 1921, the General Plan of Urbanisation in 1932, the Market and the houses for the teachers in 1936. He already had taken part in 1907 in the restoration and extension of the house Can Pau Bernadó, in the project of the chapel of the Holy Sacrament of the parish church, the year 1913, and in a project of public laundry designed around 1915. As municipal architect he also drafted numerous private projects. Catà collaborated often with other architects. After finishing his studies, he worked in the workshop of the

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

architect

Lluís Domènech i Montaner Lluís Domènech i Montaner (; 21 December 1850 – 27 December 1923) was a Catalan architect who was very much involved in and influential for the Catalan '' Modernisme català'', the Art Nouveau/ Jugendstil movement. He was also a Catalan pol ...

. In 1916 with

Eusebi Bona i Puig Eusebi is a Catalan masculine given name and Italian surname, both deriving from Eusebio. Notable people with the name include: ;Given name *Eusebi Güell (1846–1918), Catalan entrepreneur *Eusebi Planas (1833–1897), Catalan graphic artist, li ...

he won the competition to build the Posts and Telegraphs building in

. Another success was in collaboration with

Pedro Cendoya Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning ...

the winning of the design competition for the

Palau Nacional The (Catalan language, Catalan for 'National Palace') is a building on the hill of Montjuïc (Barcelona), Montjuïc in Barcelona. It was the main site of the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition, 1929 International Exhibition. It was designed ...

in 1925, completed for the

1929 Barcelona International Exposition The 1929 Barcelona International Exposition (also 1929 Barcelona Universal Exposition, or Expo 1929, officially in Spanish language, Spanish: ''Exposición Internacional de Barcelona 1929'') was the second World's fair, World Fair to be held in ...

. Collaborating with the architect

Adolf Florensa Adolf (also spelt Adolph or Adolphe, Adolfo, and when Latinised Adolphus) is a given name with German origins. The name is a compound derived from the Old High German ''Athalwolf'' (or ''Hadulf''), a composition of ''athal'', or ''adal'', meani ...

, Catà built the Cultural centre of the Doctor in Barcelona between 1929 and 1933. In Girona projects works known as the distilleries Regàs (1907) and the distilleries Gerunda (1911) of the Greater Bridge and the Theatre Albéniz (1922). In Portbou, the renovation of the Casino España (1923). In Palamós, the School Group (1925). In Reus, the Farm Soldevila (1929). And in Barcelona, diverse bourgeois mansions unfortunately missing. Enric Catà died in Barcelona in January 1937, killed by a motorist when crossing

Passeig de Gràcia Passeig de Gràcia () is one of the major avenues in Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) and one of its most important shopping and business areas, containing several of the city's most celebrated pieces of architecture. It is located in the central pa ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Enric Cata i Cata 1878 births 1937 deaths Architects from Catalonia Pedestrian road incident deaths