Casa Batllo, Gaudi designed house

Like everything Gaudí designed, Casa Batlló is only identifiable as Modernisme 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 (trencadís). The roof is arched and was likened to the back of a dragon or dinosaur. A common theory about the building is that the rounded feature to the left of centre, terminating at the top in a turret and cross, represents the lance of Saint George (patron saint of Catalonia, Gaudí's home), which has been plunged into the back of the dragon.

Antoni Gaudí did not live at Casa Batlló. The house was originally built by Emilio Sala Cortés and purchased by Josep Batlló y Casanovas in 1903, who then commissioned Gaudí to renovate it between 1904 and 1906. The Batlló family lived in the main floor (the noble floor) of Casa Batlló, while the other flats were rented out. Gaudí was the architect and designer of the renovation but did not reside there; he lived elsewhere, including in his studio at the temple of the Sagrada Familia.Read more