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Editor's Note: This post was originally published in April 2017 and has been updated with the most recent information.
After a series of setbacks and a painstaking renovation process, Antoni Gaudí’s Casa Vicens in Barcelona will finally open its doors to the public later this month.
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Helmed by local firms Daw Office and Martiñez Lapeña Torres Arquitectes, the extensive renovation process involved returning the ostentatious home to its original state, as well as converting it into a “house museum” and cultural space that could accommodate visitors, exhibition space, and a library gift shop.
The opulently tiled brick-and-stone building is the Catalonian architect’s first residence and a prime example of his orientalist period. It was built as a summer home between 1883 and 1885 for Manel Vicens, a wealthy industrialist, and boasts a graphic, geometric, and wholly unique scheme.
In 1925, the Jover family, who bought the house in 1899, commissioned architect Joan Baptista Serra de Martínez, a friend of Gaudí’s, to expand the free-standing property—with Gaudí’s blessing. The expansion turned the single-family dwelling into three separate homes, one on each floor, and almost doubled the square-footage. Further changes were made between 1935 and 1964.
In 2005, UNESCO declared Casa Vicens a World Heritage Site, bringing the count of Gaudí buildings bearing that designation to six. It opens to the public on November 16.
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