Passeig de Gràcia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Passeig de Gràcia is both one of the major avenues in Barcelona and also one of its most important shopping and business areas, containing a few of the city’s most celebrated pieces of architecture. It’s located in the central part of Eixample, stretching from Plaça Catalunya to Carrer Gran de Gràcia.
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[edit] History
Formerly known as Camí de Jesús (“Jesus Road”), it used to be little more than a quasi-rural lane surrounded by gardens joining Barcelona and Gràcia (then still a separate town), until the first urbanisation project in 1821 devised by the liberal city council, and led by Ramon Plana, who had to suddenly cancel his work due to the epidemics that were raging in Barcelona at the time. After the demise of the liberal government with the return of Absolutism in 1824, the project was to be retaken by general José Bernaldo de Quirós, marquis of Campo Sagrado. The new avenue was 42 metres wide in 1827 and became a favourite place for aristocrats to display their horse riding skills and expensive horse-drawn carriages all through the 19th century.
In 1906 the architect Pere Falqués i Urpí designed the now famous ornated benches and street-lights of the avenue. By that time it had become Barcelona’s trendiest street, with buildings designed by modernista/Art Nouveau architects of fame such as Antoni Gaudí, Pere Falqués, Josep Puig i Cadafalch, Lluís Domènech i Montaner, Enric Sagnier or Josep Vilaseca.
The Catalan writer Salvador Espriu worked in the tower in
[edit] Notable buildings
- Illa de la discòrdia
- Casa Amatller by Josep Puig i Cadafalch (1890-1900)
- Casa Batlló by Antoni Gaudí (1904-1906)
- Casa Lleó Morera by Lluís Domènech i Montaner (1902-1906)
- Museu del Perfum
- Cases Antoni Rocamora by Josep Bassegoda i Amigó (1914-1917)
- Casa Fuster by Josep Puig i Cadafalch (1908-1911)
- Casa Milà “La Pedrera” by Antoni Gaudí (1905-1910)
- Casa Pons i Pascual by Enric Sagnier (1891)
- Teatre Tívoli
- Jardins de Salvador Espriu
[edit] Hotels
- Hotel Casa Fuster
- Hotel Condes de Barcelona
- Hotel Majestic Barcelona
- Hotel Prestige Paseo de Gràcia (built in 1897)
[edit] Cinemas
- Casablanca-Kaplan
- Comedia
[edit] See also
- Passeig de Gràcia metro station
- Passeig de Gràcia train station
- Eixample
- Ildefons Cerdà
- Gràcia
- Modernisme, Art Nouveau
- Noucentisme
- Barcelona
[edit] References
- ALBAREDA, Joaquim, GUÀRDIA, Manel i altres.Enciclopèdia de Barcelona, Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana, Barcelona, 2006.
