Episode 6: Apple of Discord

The group of buildings made up of Casa Lleó Morera, Casa Amatller and Casa Batlló form part of the Manzana de la Discordia (‘Block or Apple of Discord’) due the to different styles of these three exceptional buildings. The first of these, Casa Lleó i Morera, was commissioned by Francesca Morera I Ortiz at the beginning of the 20th century. The architect, Lluís Domènech i Montaner, redesigned the previous building to create a genuine modernist work. In fact, the architect himself described it as “a family-scale Palau de la Música”. If we look at the façade, we see continuous allusions to the family’s surname, representing the mulberry (‘morera’) flower with different materials, and several allegories to 20th century inventions. The façade is crowned with an eye-catching shrine that adds a degree of originality to the building. However, the modernist features are clearest inside the residence, where visitors can admire the best preserved suites in the city, filled with stained glass, mosaics, ceramics, sculpture, wood, marble and sgraffito. The vestibule and staircase display the different modernist art forms that the artists and artisans involved in this construction were able to capture perfectly under the guidance of Domènech i Montaner.
Photo Casa Amatller and Casa Batlló by Bernard Gagnon is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0