Casa Calvet

Casa Calvet stands in Barcelona, Spain, as a Modernisme building designed by Antoni Gaudí between 1898 and 1900. Built for textile manufacturer Pere Màrtir Calvet, it combined a business on the lower floors with a private residence above. Its orderly façade fits between older buildings, while a double gable, curved forms and a projecting central oriel add movement. Wrought-iron balconies alternate between rounded and shallow shapes across the front.

Look closer and the building connects architecture with Calvet’s life and work: mushroom forms recall his favourite hobby, while bobbin-like entrance columns reference textiles. Montjuïc stone, granite Solomonic columns and vine-patterned arches continue those material details inside. Cypress, olive, cornucopias and the Catalan coat of arms enrich the ground-floor gallery. Three sculpted heads crown the building, including Calvet’s father and two patron saints of Vilassar. In 1900, Barcelona’s city council recognised the design as the city’s best building of the year.