If I Had A Million Dollars

You know the lyrics to the Barenaked Ladies song:
If I had a million dollars (If I had a million dollars)
Well, I'd buy you a house (I would buy you a house)

Today, I decided to delve into the private side of Moderniste architecture.  Many of these gorgeous buildings, gilded with ceramic flowers and glittering with tile mosaics, are not museums but rather private residences and office buildings.  And, much to my delight, there are quite a few gems within blocks of my apartment.

My first stop was Palau del Baro de Quadras, a beautiful Moderniste building that now houses Casa Asia.

 The building was designed by Josep Puig I Cadafelch (of Block of Discord fame) in 1902 and has two distinct facades.  One, on the Avinguda Diagonal side, is like an ornate North European palace with its busts of Renaissance figures and its ornate balconies.  The Carrer Rossello façade is decorated more in keeping with Moderniste architectural elements.  The building is open to the public for free, and I took the opportunity to wander.  The house was filled with the tile mosaics, nature themes, playful wrought iron, stained glass, and curves that I have grown to love.

A tribute to Asians in Barcelona, part of the house's new incarnation as Casa Asia.

 It was just me in that big house, and I even got to enjoy a gorgeous view of the town from the rooftop.

From the balcony, I spotted a few interesting buildings that weren’t on my planned route, so I took a detour further down Avinguda Diagonal.  This building,

 which I initially saw in the distance, turned out to be one of the most famous buildings on the street, Casa Terrades (or Casa de les Punxes/”House of Spikes”), built in 1905.  This building was ALSO designed by Josep Puig I Cadafelch as an apartment building for Angela Brutau and her three daughters.  The building looks like a Gothic castle with Moderniste flair.  

 This privately owned building is still mostly residential, as I discovered while photographing the completely open door and foyer.

 A guard came sprinting down the sidewalk and was flailing his arms and shouting at me for trespassing… while I still stood on the sidewalk.  He also watched me walk away to make sure I wouldn’t sneak back in.  Despite this rather aggressive protection, I highly recommend stopping by to see the building.  It’s magnificent, and quite the way to live in style.

If you read yesterday’s Spotted, you read about Casa Comalat, the beautiful building that greets me on my walk to and from work as I leave my little street.  While I love this building, I hadn’t seen its other marvelous façade before today.  Like many of the fascinating buildings on Avinguda Diagonal, its two sides are a complete mismatch.  The colorful façade that I showed yesterday is nothing like the wrought iron, disproportionately huge, neutral-toned face that I saw today.

 I then ventured a bit further afield, up to the Fontana Metro stop to see Gaudi’s first major work: Casa Vicens.  This family residence was commissioned by industrialist Manuel Vicens in 1883 and is located in the Gracia district, which has remained markedly less touristy than downtown.

 The house has all of Gaudi’s fearless colorfulness and eyecatching playfulness, but without the refinement or characteristic curves of his later works.  It also shows Moorish influences in the structure of the upper levels and rooftop.  The use of brick and ceramic tile in the structure was a reference to Vicens, who owned a brick and tile factory.  The yellow, zinnia-flowered tile was manufactured specifically for Gaudi by Vicens, himself.  It seems as though Gaudi got his feet wet with these materials and never looked back.

 It was while standing outside this house that I started to think about privately owning one of these architectural gems.  How would it feel to live inside of a UNESCO World Heritage Site?  Anyway, while this residence is private, the family apparently opens it up to neighbors and citizens of the city on St. Rita’s Day (May 22^nd).  Pity that I didn’t know that when I arrived!  Oh, and just so you know, Casa Vicens is currently for sale through the real estate agency Altadicion.  The asking price was 27 million euros as of 2007.  I don’t think that it has been sold.

After my architectural jaunt, I met up with Naaman for a long-awaited stop: Lukumas for Greek donuts.

 It was a cute little shop, which is my favorite kind of place in Barcelona.

 The bar was pretty high: reviews of this donut shop included exultations of “I was never a fan of donuts AND THEN I DISCOVERED THIS PLACE.  Life will never be the same!”  Needless to say, we were excited.  So excited, in fact, that we ordered one of basically everything.

 this included, clockwise from top left: coconut, chocolate frosted with chocolate filling, white chocolate-filled, chocolate-filled, dulce de leche-filled with vanilla frosting, and dulce de leche-filled.  Naaman and I split each one down the middle, usually with our teeth.

Let’s cut to the chase: the donuts did not rock our world.  Our favorite, by far, was the white chocolate-filled little donut.  Delicious.

Aaaaand, today’s Spotte: A bond-with-your-fetus center!

No, folks, this isn’t your typical ultrasound visit at the doctor’s office.  This center for prenatal bonding offers a 4-D (I’m unsure what the fourth dimension they use is) experience, highly recommended as a unique gift for expectant mothers by the company’s advertising.  The left window, if you look closely, had a grey outline of a pregnant woman with a ribbon around her belly, while the right window shows you a sneak peak at what your little sea monkey will look like!  Aw!  Anyway, there were customers in the waiting room, so props to the company for making their business model work in an economically failing country.