Spanish authorities announced on Wednesday that renowned modernist architect Antoni Gaudí (1852‑1926) designed the Xalet del Catllaras, a three‑storey mountain shelter built for workers at a cement factory 125 kilometres north of Barcelona. The confirmation ends long‑standing speculation about the building’s authorship, which had linked Gaudí to the project because the factory was owned by industrialist Eusebi Guell, for whom Gaudí completed several works. A comprehensive technical and historical analysis, commissioned in 2023 from Gaudí scholar Galdric Santana, provided the evidence needed to attribute the design to Gaudí.
Santana, who also chairs commemorative events for the centenary of Gaudí’s death in 2026, said the house, constructed between 1901 and 1908, contains structural elements unique to Gaudí’s mid‑career practice. These include specific types of arches, vaults and rooms separated by walls set at 45‑degree angles—techniques not adopted by his disciples until a decade later. By comparing floor plans, employing three‑dimensional modelling and examining historic documents and photographs, Santana uncovered geometric, structural and compositional proof of Gaudí’s authorship.
He noted that, given the building’s remote location and Gaudí’s concurrent projects such as Park Guell and Casa Batllo, it was previously plausible to doubt his involvement. However, the completed Xalet deviates from Gaudí’s original plan, suggesting he did not supervise construction. At that time, architects often withheld their signature when finished works diverged from initial designs, which would explain why Gaudí never publicly acknowledged the Xalet. The confirmation adds a new, well‑documented example of Gaudí’s innovative approach to architecture and enriches the catalogue of his early‑20th‑century works.
Image Courtesy: Reuters
