Park Guell

Park Guell – Antoni Gaudi – 1914

Gaudi was commissioned by his good friend Eusebi Guell to design the park and the individual residences that were due to be built here.

The land was bought by Guell and his intention was to build a community for the wealthy of Barcelona in a natural setting outside of the city. Designs for the park were based upon the idea of the English garden cities, whereby people could escape the urban city life and live in a more natural environment. 60 plots were due to be built in this parkland setting. The development was eventually stopped by Guell in 1914 for a number of reasons, largely due to Guell’s strict restrictions on the site. The main being that he would not allow public transport into the park which made the park very difficult to access, and put people off buying plots on the site. The park remained as it is today and upon Guell’s death was bought by Barcelona council and opened up as a wonderful public space that is now a UNESCO World heritage site.

Some pictures taken from the park’s outskirtsThis was the home of Eusebi Guell and was the only property already on the land when it was bought by Guell in 1885.

The two buildings above are the only designed by Gaudi, the porters lodge (left) and the administration building for the site (right)

The two buildings above are the only two are the only plots that were sold, neither were designed by Gaudi. The pink building on the left was eventually bought by Gaudi. He lived there with his niece and it is now a Gaudi museum. The house on the right was built on two of the park’s plots and it sits on the hillside on the outskirts of the park. It is privately owned and is still owned by the family that bought the original land.