Casa Vicens

The most repeated mistake about this house doesn't concern Gaudí, but rather who paid for it. It is read everywhere that Manuel Vicens i Montaner was a tile manufacturer, and from that comes the straightforward explanation: a man from the ceramics industry commissions a house covered in ceramics. The explanation is false. Vicens was a stockbroker, and his own will states this, which is preserved in the archive of protocols in Barcelona.

The error has an author and a date. It appears in Joan Bassegoda's monograph from 1989, on page 247, and it was subsequently repeated by Gijs van Hensbergen and Daniel Giralt-Miracle, who are the two sources that almost everyone copies afterwards. Thirty-five years later, it continues to circulate because the story of a tile house for a tile maker is a tale too convenient to verify.

And the money didn't come from his profession. The land came through hereditary inheritance from his mother: the estate belonged to Agustí Maria Baró i Tastàs, a royal currency broker, who died without children in 1866. Vicens had been his employee and had married his niece, and Baró left everything to Manuel's mother. How Gaudí and Vicens came to know each other is another matter: there is no document that tells the story, and the museum itself acknowledges this.

The second piece of misinformation that circulates is the date. It is often stated that the house was completed in 1888, and this information comes from Josep Francesc Ràfols, the first biographer of Gaudí, without any supporting documentation. The plans are dated January 15, 1883, and the construction work took place from 1883 to 1885. When Gaudí started the project, he was thirty years old and had five years of professional experience.

It's important to understand the significance of this. This is the first house that Gaudí designed and built entirely, from the first stone to the final detail, without inheriting any existing foundations or modifying another architect's plans. Everything that would come later is present here in its raw form: the ceramics as the building's skin, the plant-inspired ironwork, and the idea that every element of the garden should continue the building's design rather than simply surrounding it.

This is the second misunderstanding, and it's more technical than the first. Many descriptions depict the facade of Casa Vicens as "trencadís." It is not. "Trencadís" is broken ceramic rearranged and applied to a curved surface, and here, the ceramic is made of whole and modular tiles, arranged in a grid pattern and in stripes, on straight surfaces. These are two distinct techniques and two different periods in Gaudí's work.

Where does mosaic art (trencadís) then begin? The mosaic work in the garden of the Güell Estate is often cited as the first application, but this claim is not well-documented, and there are verifications that do not support it. The first documented examples with solid evidence are the chimneys of the Palau Güell, from 1886 to 1890, using ceramics from the Pujol i Bausis factory in Esplugues. As a fully developed system, trencadís is found in Park Güell. In either case, Casa Vicens is excluded: it is earlier.

The flower that is repeated on the yellow tiles has a name: Tagetes erecta, the Indian marigold. The charming story that Gaudí found those flowers growing on the land and decided to incorporate them into the facade comes from Joan Bergós and was published in 1954, twenty-eight years after Gaudí's death. It's an anecdote from an author, not a document related to the work itself. There is another ceramic detail that is documented and that almost no one connects: part of the imitation cladding used here comes from a stone cardboard system patented by Hermenegild Miralles, the same industrialist who, years later, commissioned Gaudí to create the Miralles Portal.

In 1925, the owners wanted to expand the house and proposed it to Gaudí. Gaudí rejected the commission: he had been dedicated exclusively to the Sagrada Família for eleven years and had no intention of leaving. What is often omitted is what he did next, which is interesting: he himself indicated the architect who should do it, Joan Baptista Serra de Martínez.

Serra worked between 1925 and 1927, and his contribution was significant. He added a tower-minaret almost identical to Gaudí's, to the point that today it is necessary to know the details to distinguish them. He demolished and replaced Gaudí's original staircase. He closed the grandstand with stained glass windows. The built volume almost doubled.

And in 1928, the City Council awarded a prize for the result. The award for the annual competition of artistic buildings went to Serra, not to Gaudí: the same competition that, in its first edition, in 1900, had awarded Gaudí for the Casa Calvet, and which never awarded him again. There's one last twist, and it's one to be enjoyed: the part that today functions as the reception area and exhibition hall of the museum is Serra's extension, that is, the part that is not by Gaudí.

The Casa Vicens that is visited today is a fraction of what once existed. The plot of land went from 1.738 m² at its historical maximum to the current 711 m², with 1.239 m² of built area, and along with the land, the garden disappeared, which in Gaudí's project was as important as the house itself.

There are three publicly available formulas, as well as variations offered through private and school-based programs. The prices vary, and we don't provide them here; you should check the official website on the day you plan to purchase. However, it's important to know the rules in advance, as this institution has a particular rule that surprises many people.

The time slot has a zero-tolerance policy in both directions. The rule literally states that access is not permitted either before or after the indicated time. This is not the norm: Park Güell allows a thirty-minute window, and Casa Batlló allows fifteen minutes. Here, with the Sagrada Família, there is no leeway, and arriving twenty minutes early is also useless. Once inside, re-entry is not allowed, and the visit lasts between sixty and seventy-five minutes.

Regarding what you can bring: there is a cloakroom, but backpacks larger than 30 x 30 cm are not allowed, nor are umbrellas, helmets, tripods, selfie sticks, or stabilizers. It is, along with the Palau Güell, one of Gaudí's monuments with the longest list of prohibited items.

Admission is free for children up to 11 years old. There are reduced prices for students, seniors (65 years and older), and large families. The website itself provides conflicting information regarding the student discount: the Spanish version states it's for ages 12 to 29, while the Catalan version says it's for ages 12 to 30. If you are close to the age limit, it's best to inquire before purchasing your ticket.

And a piece of news that is good here: the Casa Vicens is 100% accessible by wheelchair. Only the Casa Batlló is at that level among Gaudí's works in Barcelona. In the Torre Bellesguard, for example, the interior is not accessible at all.