b-ing Architecture
Moderisme, Then & Now
Casa Amatller
Casa Amatller is one of Barcelona’s most elegant and well preserved examples of modernisme architecture. Home to Antoni Amatller Costa (1851-1910), an industrialist and keen photographer who commissioned architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch (1867-1956) to refurbish an existing building on Passeig de Gràcia into a family home. Amatller believed that Catalonia’s increasing wealth represented a return to a golden age which required a new architectural language featuring the modern materials that fuelled the city’s new wealth; cast iron, stained glass and textiles together with the crafts that reflected a unique local artistic sensibility. Alongside its neighbours, Casa Battló and Casa Lleó-Morera the building forms one of the most important stretches on Barcelona’s principal avenue.
The recently completed restoration project (2015) endeavours to recreate the ambience of the original house designed and constructed between 1898 and 1900 using period photographs and archival material to recapture the quality of light and the splendour of its interior architecture and crafts. Amatller was a collector of antiques and a patron of the arts, his fortune was built on the production of chocolate Xocolates Amatller which dates back to the late 18th Century. A new penthouse floor dedicated to a photographic workshop was constructed alongside the refurbishment of the house, Amatller won numerous awards for his photography work during his life and today his work is preserved by the Instituto Amatller de Arte Hispánico. From May 2015 the living apartments will be accessible by the general public.
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Copyright; Institut Amatller d'Art Hispànic
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Copyright; Institut Amatller d'Art Hispànic
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Copyright; Institut Amatller d'Art Hispànic
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Copyright; Institut Amatller d'Art Hispànic
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Copyright; Institut Amatller d'Art Hispànic
