Episode 14: Bellesguard Tower

The Torres Bellesguard or Casa Figueras is located at calle Bellesguard 16-20, and was designed by Antonio Gaudí and built on the ruins of an old medieval castle from the 15th century. It was the residence of the King of Aragon, Martin the Humane. This is why it still retains part of this original structure, and also why the building has some straight forms – highly unusual in Gaudí’s works.With the Torre Bellesguard, Gaudí would try out some new decorative procedures, such as using the stone mosaic technique to achieve a padding effect in the texture of the building’s walls. For this technique, Gaudí used small stones from the place, which he put in square or octagonal plaster molds, adding mortar on top. When the pieces were extracted, the stone faced outwards. Gaudí first used this technique at the Güell Palace, and again for Güell Park. The most eye-catching feature of the façade is the attic with brick arches and the tower crowned by an equal armed cross, typical of Gaudí. The attic is a real extravagance of imagination and effective construction, because simply by employing these brick arches edgewise, it creates the unnecessary use of beams or another type of parietal support. The Bellesguard Tower is currently private property and belongs to the Guilera family, which continues to live in part of the house.
Photo BellesguardI by GerthMichael is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0