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Casa Batllo

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lisanti
lisanti
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5 out of 5
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Editor Pick

One of the Finest Gaudi Buildings

  • March 8, 2009
  • Rated 5 of 5 by koshkha from Northampton, United Kingdom
Casa Batllo is one of the most famous of Antonio Gaudi's buildings and is located at 43 Passeig de Gracia, one of Barcelona's finest streets. It's a couple of blocks down the street from Casa Mila (also known as La Pedrera - the rock quarry) but on the opposite side of the road. In countrast to Casa Mila's corner plot, Casa Batllo is flanked by other buildings on both sides with only the front visible from the street.

Gaudi didn't build 43 Passeig de Gracia; there had already been a building there for nearly 30 years before he got his hands on it. The owner in 1900 was a local businessman called Josep Batllo Casanovas and he wanted the whole building knocked down and rebuilt from scratch. Luckily he changed his mind and commissioned a refurbishment and new façade instead and chose Gaudi to do the job. Most of the work took place between 1904 and 1906 and in July 2006 Casa Batllo received a very special present - listing by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. Gaudi's key contributions to the building design were the creation of a completely new façade, restructuring of the interior layout, increasing the size of the light-well and creating some very funky attic rooms and a rooftop that looks like all the primary school kids in Catlunya were let loose on it with their collage kits.

Mid December is probably the quietest time of the year to do anything of a touristic in Barcelona and the Casa Batllo is a particularly good example of that. Its not a very big building and can easily get jam-packed with tourists quickly generating long queues. But we strode straight up to the ticket booth without any delay. However, it might have been better to take some time to get over the shock of €16 entry fee. This was several years ago and it may be even more expensive by now. "For goodness sake" I muttered under my breath "I want to visit the house, not buy it!"

As you enter, you get the first hint that there won't be many straight lines in the building. The downstairs lobby has curved walls that are a bit like a cave. In front of you is a magnificent curved wooden staircase rising up to the first floor. The staircase has a frilled edge that makes it look a bit like the backbone of a dinosaur. The stairs deposit you in the hallway of La Planta Noble - the grand floor or the main floor of the building. Turning to the right you go into a little room called the Fireplace Room, which has a Hobbit-like fireplace shaped like a mushroom with seats on either side of the fire. From what I recall of the audio-guide, the seat is wider on one side than the other to leave room for a chaperone to sit in with any courting couple.

The next room is the main living room and this is the room behind the balcony façade. It has movable wooden dividers that can be left in place to make three smaller rooms or they can be folded back to make one giant room. The windows can also be folded back to leave the room like a giant balcony. The ceiling in this room has some amazing swirled textures around the lights - they look like water flowing down a plug hole but upside down. From the windows you can look out over the Passeig de Gracia, wave at the tourists and pull faces to spoil their photographs - after all, you've paid €16 to get in, they're just standing on the street.

The main room at the back of the building on this floor is the dining room. Again, Gaudi worked hard to achieve a sense of "bringing the outside in" as the design folks like to say on the TV. The dining room doors open out onto a large terrace, which completely fills the space behind the building. Go out and turn back to look at the building - there are some more relaxed and fun touches here. Big flowers made out of broken plates and other pottery adorn the back of the building. There are little balconies on the higher floors with flowers growing in pots. At the far end of the terrace is a water feature again made from broken pots.

When you are out on the terrace balcony you can't help but be shocked by some of the buildings surrounding the Casa Batllo. To the left and behind are some utterly hideous buildings, which probably date to the 1960s or 70s. They are big grey boxes without any redeeming features. Looking to the right there is a real mish-mash of odd buildings and this has lead this block of the Passeig de Gracia to be named the "Manzana da Discordia" or the "Block of Discord". Some of the buildings are beautiful but there are some 'carbuncles' amongst them. Let's blame Franco (or the town planner) - between the two they seem to be responsible for everything bad if you ever ask a Catalan.

Back into the building and you can pop into the shop at the side of the dining room or continue on to get the lift or start the climb up to the attic. We took the stairs - I'm not a fan of creaky old lifts and there were more things to see on the way up. The staircase winds around the light-well - the space inside the building through which light tunnels in from above and illuminates the inner rooms. The tiling on the light-well is in shades of blue that vary from dark blue at the top down to much paler white and blues at the bottom. Gaudi was playing games with the light and the tiles to try to give the effect that the tiles were the same colour all the way down the well.

The Attic

After all the bright colours and irregular lines of the main building, the attics are a real surprise. They are painted white and the space is broken up by a succession of high arches that reminded me of the inside of a very austere church or monastery. Some people say that the attics make them think of being inside the belly of a giant beast such as a whale or a dragon - in fact the largest room on this floor is called the Dragons Belly Room. The attics were used for storage and for laundries - a lot of these high ceilings were designed so the washing could be lifted up and dried and there are areas designed to drag air into the building and other rooms are for heating the laundry.

The Roof

The staircase to the roof brings visitors out near the front façade. My husband doesn't like heights so I made him very nervous by going as close to the edge as I could. You can just about see down onto the street below. Next take a walk beside the chimneys. These are smaller and more brightly coloured than those of La Pedrera and look like soldiers standing to attention on the roof. Most of the surfaces are decorated with Gaudi's characteristic broken pottery mosaic. When you've taken lots of photos and had enough of the roof, return to the down-staircase and head back down to the exit.

Do I like it? Would I recommend it?

I think everyone, even those with only a passing interest in Gaudi, should see this building but ideally not when it's too full or too hot. Go off-peak and take your time to really soak it up. You can see more of this building than La Pedrera and its finished, unlike the Sagrada Familla. For me its the perfect Gaudi building and, despite the price of entrance, I would still go back for another look.

My only reservation would be with respect to access for those with restricted mobility. There is a lift but the line is long and I'm not sure that it would be accessible through the usual entrance. If you have trouble getting around, phone ahead and check.

From journal Barcelona Highlights

Casa Batllo

  • July 19, 2007
  • Rated 5 of 5 by Celia Coene from Alameda, California
Casa Batllo

La Casa Batllò - Another building by Gaudì, a house that he built for the Batllò family. He used the theme of the sea all throughout the house, and everywhere you look reminds you of it: the roof looks like fish scales, the walls are curvy like waves, the balconies look like the bow of a boat… I personally find it glorious, and it has become such a symbol of Barcelona. My favorite is the tiles of the roof and the room at the very top with an interior fountain that reflects on the walls. Very cool. A completely eccentric building well worth a look despite the steep entrance fee (about 14 euros). Located at Passeig de Gracia, 43, a couple of blocks away from Plaza Cataluňa. www.casabatllo.es

From journal Barcelona: You 'Gaudi' See This!

Gaudi's Casa Batllo!

  • December 3, 2005
  • Rated 5 of 5 by g-champagne* from N/A, Switzerland
The Casa was truly extraordinary! The Casa looked exactly like the ones you see in photos. That's how picturesque it really is. The admission into the Casa is bit expensive, though, if you're planning to see the whole thing. It cost about 12 euros for students, which included an audio guide and entrance to the apartment, attic, and roof. It can get quite crowded when a lot of visitors are jammed in there, but you still get a great look of the fantastic interior decoration. The audio guide was really helpful in telling us what exactly we were looking at, the story behind each part of the building, etc. It was truly a magical experience!

From journal Gaudi's Barcelona

Gaudi House (Casa Botllo)

This house is amazing. It is a work that Gaudi was commissioned to redesign. The tour is slightly pricey but worth every penny. Gaudi made great works out of space and put together the rooms of the house like a puzzle. He saw the purpose of each room he designed and the purpose behind it. The audio tour is very useful for explaining what was behind Gaudi's thought process as he designed this house.

From journal Gothic Barcelona

Editor Pick

Casa Batllo

  • March 29, 2002
  • Rated 4 of 5 by billmoy from Chicago, Illinois
Casa Batllo

This colorful facade was the architectural mask designed by Antoni Gaudi in 1904 to envelop the exterior of an existing building along the lovely Passeig de Gracia. This is the most famous member of the "Manzana de la Discordia", and just next door to the Casa Amatller by Josep Puig i Cadafalch (the third member of the Manzana is the Casa Lleo Morera). This mansion, the Casa Josep Batllo, is not to be confused with the Casa Enric Batllo (now the Hotel Condes de Barcelona) located just down the street.

The bold colors of the facade shimmer brilliantly on sunny mornings, while at night it is dramatically illuminated. There are many theories regarding the origins of the design, but perhaps the most interesting is that it represents the legend of Saint George and the Dragon. It is not easy to grasp the entire facade in one glance, so study the details carefully in order to appreciate the vitality of Gaudi's design. The dynamic roofline features a tower marked by a cross along with the sinuous outline of the "dragon". Window embellishments include skull mask balcony railings and bizarre bone-shaped verticals.

Unfortunately, the dynamic interiors are not open to the public, at least not to this person. There is a nearby Pans & Company sandwich shop which has a great view of the front facade.

From journal Bill in Spain - BARCELONA

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