#GAUDI HOUSE DRIVER#

Impressive though the exterior is, it’s just half the story. The unfinished central spire will reach a whopping 170 metres when completed, just one metre lower than Barcelona’s coastal mountain Montjuic, for – as Gaudi famously retorted – “man should not exceed God”. Every façade offers an intricate canvass of reliefs and sculptures paying homage to God and the world he created, while the proliferation of honey-combed towers reaches impossibly high into the sky. Fusing art nouveau and Gothic styles with a rich abundance of natural motifs, he created a new style of architecture that critics lambasted as grotesque and over the top, but which has stood the iron test of time, fascinating generations ever since. When Villar resigned from the project in 1883, a still young (31 years old) Antoni Gaudi took over the project and imprinted his own bold vision on the church.

The brainchild of a humble bookseller, Josep Maria Bocabella, construction on La Sagrada Familia begun in 1882, funded by public donations, with architect Francisco de Paula del Villar at the helm. Half of Barcelona dressed in black to honour his death, and his body was, fittingly enough, interred in the crypt of La Sagrada Familia. They wanted to move him but Gaudi refused, insisting that: “I belong here amongst the poor.” He died three days after being hit by the tram.ĭespite shunning publicity Gaudi’s popularity and fame had exploded by that time, as many people began to acknowledge the unique genius of his work. Gaudi was eventually taken to a hospital for the proletariat, where he wasn’t recognised until his friends found him there the following day.

#GAUDI HOUSE DRIVER#

When the architect was hit by a tram in 1926 he was so ragged and conspicuously poor, that nobody recognised him and no cab driver would take him to a hospital (the uncharitable offenders were later fined by the police). Gaudi was eventually taken to a hospital for the proletariat… They wanted to move him but Gaudi refused, insisting that: “I belong here amongst the poor.” He died three days after being hit by the tram. The one-time dandy allowed his appearance and clothes to deteriorate and he became yet more isolated from society. Taken over by a Captain Ahab-style monomania, Gaudi even moved his studio into the crypt of La Sagrada Familia in 1925 so that he could devote every waking moment to executing his plans.

Fellow Catalan Eusebi Guell was so enchanted by the work which he saw at the Paris fair that he tracked down the artist in Barcelona and became Gaudi’s close friend and an important patron of his works – notably commissioning the architect to design the Palau Guell and Park Guell, amongst other projects. He also undertook a number of commissions for furniture and altarpieces and a showcase for gloves for the Comella firm for the Paris Exhibition of 1878, and it was these works that got him a big break. That same year Gaudi won his first commission, via a competition, to design lampposts for Barcelona’s Plaça Reial. “Who knows if we have given this diploma to a nut or to a genius? Time will tell.”Įven then his professors did not quite know what to make of his work, and when he was awarded the title of architect in 1878, Elies Rogent, the director of the school, declared: “Who knows if we have given this diploma to a nut or to a genius? Time will tell.” After enduring a childhood troubled by rheumatism, the son of two coppersmiths travelled to the Catalan capital to enrol as an student at the Escola Tecnica Superior d’Arquitectura, where he duly studied from 1873 to 1877.

The 20th century’s most famous architect was born in Reus (or just outside, depending on what account you believe) in the Tarragona province of Catalonia, 80km south of Barcelona.

Gaudi house