Spain Trip #18: Barcelona: Gaudi Lights, Casa Battlo & Ducks!

Casa Batlló

Antoni Gaudi not only designed and built the Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona, he also created several buildings and even a lamp-post! In this blog, you'll see both! One of the buildings is called Casa Battlo and has a modern and bizarre design. It's now a museum.

WHAT IS CASA BATTLO? Casa Batlló is a renowned building located in the center of Barcelona and is one of Antoni Gaudí’s masterpieces. A remodel of a previously built house, it was redesigned in 1904 by Gaudí and has been refurbished several times after that. 

ABOUT THE DESIGN: Like everything Gaudí designed, it is only identifiable as Modernisme or Art Nouveau in the broadest sense. The ground floor, in particular, has unusual tracery, irregular oval windows and flowing sculpted stone work. There are few straight lines, and much of the façade is decorated with a colorful mosaic made of broken ceramic tiles. The roof is arched and was likened to the back of a dragon or dinosaur.  

Casa Batlló

TenderfootDesign.com says "The dragon-scale topped Casa Batllo is a romantic fairytale dream with a thorny edge. Gaudi’s trademark organic touch results in a space that flows from room to room with straight lines replaced by curves and swirls."  What do you think? 

Address: Passeig de Gràcia, 43, 08007 Barcelona, Spain

Construction started: 1877 

Architectural styles: Modernisme, Modern architecture, Expressionist architecture

Did you know: The house was bought by Josep Batlló in 1900.

Group walking to see the Lamp post

THE GAUDI LAMP-POST - Antoni Gaudi even designed two lamp-posts and we saw one in the Placa (Plaza) Reial. In the late 1870s, Gaudí received a commission from the City of Barcelona to design new candelabras (lampposts) to light the streets of Barcelona. Gaudí designed two models, one with three arms and another with six, which were ultimately placed on the Pla de Palau and in the Plaça Reial, respectively. They can still be seen there today.
 
BARCELONA DUCKS - One thing we didn't expect to see was a store selling yellow rubber ducks, but there it was! The Barcelona Duck store has rubber ducks in every profession for you. 

NEXT: Eating out in Barcelona