History

The architect

Jeroni Ferran Granell Manresa, (Barcelona, 1867 - 1931), was an architect modernist born into a family of architects. His father Jeroni Granell i Mundet was a master builder and became President of the ‘Centre de Mestres d’Obres’ between 1878 and 1882.

He studied architecture with Josep Puig i Cadafalch, graduating in 1891 and collaborating on several occasions with Domenech i Muntaner.

Jeroni  Ferran Granell i Manresa was one of the most original architects of Barcelona modernism, standing out for the creation of some unique sgraffito on the facades of residential buildings, of which he has left us numerous samples in Barcelona.

First associated with the glazier Antoni Rigalt and later with his own signature, he revitalized the art of stained glass and made a large part of the modernist stained glass windows in Barcelona, ​​such as those in the Palau de la Música Catalana, the Casa Lleó Morera and the Hospital de Sant Pau.

The House

This residential building designed by architect Jeroni Ferran Granell i Manresa, located at 122 Girona Street, is a fine example of the modernist architecture that developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the area where the building is located, known as the Golden Quadrant, there are many other examples of this architectural movement.

The materials used for the structure are solid brick and iron beams.

The use of wood, glass, and iron as decorative elements is also notable, beautifying the façade and interiors.

The façade stands out for its large windows, decorative reliefs, patterns, and color.

Greenish vines climb on a mauve background, covering the entire façade. The choice of this plant motif could have several explanations, or it could simply be aesthetic, taking advantage of the influences of Mediterranean cultures. What is certain is that Catalonia, once recovered from phylloxera, became a major wine producer, and some of the most important bourgeois families who contributed to the promotion of Modernism had businesses in this sector. Perhaps Granell thought that choosing this fruit would be a safe bet when selling the property to a wealthy businessman.

The window shutters are painted in violet tones that may recall the color of wine, but apparently, a former owner of one of the apartments in the building, when the façade was being restored, explained to the restoration team that the initial idea was to imitate the color of gardenias, which would also have been very appropriate, since this flower is seen as a symbol of subtlety and artistic merit.

This restoration was carried out in 1978 by Toni Solanes, restoring the building's original beauty. The work earned the Ciutat de Barcelona Award for Facade Restoration that year.

The wrought ironwork also stands out on the ground-floor windows, continuing the sinuous lines of the sgraffito and the floral motifs.

The use of different materials was very important during the Modernist era. During the 19th century, nationalist movements seeking the glorious past to justify these feelings of exaltation and identity emerged throughout Europe. In Catalonia, people looked to the Middle Ages. The era of Romanesque art, considered the period of the country's formation, and the Gothic period, seen as a time of economic expansion thanks to trade throughout the Mediterranean, gained importance after having been greatly discredited.

When Granell was 10 years old, the hiking center was founded, and one of the association's most important tasks was to recover all the medieval art scattered throughout the region. Abandoned and rapidly deteriorating, the goal of the recovery was to preserve it. Many of these recovered works are currently housed in the MNAC (Spanish Museum of Contemporary Art).

This medieval art emphasized all elements, not just architecture. Wrought iron, glass, and wood were treated with delicacy, and these ideas were adopted by late 19th-century artists, as can be seen in the treatment of these materials in the Granell house.

In the main door, we can see how the architect intentionally plays with the effect created by the colors produced by the light entering through the stained-glass window decorated with floral motifs. These flowers revive and die every day thanks to the sunlight.

Going through this door, you reach a very wide hallway richly decorated with green sgraffiti that also reproduces plant forms. The hallway leads to the staircase leading to the living quarters. Early in the morning, this hallway is bathed in light, and the colors that filter through the stained-glass window create a very welcoming and pleasant space.

Glasswork was very important in the life of Jeroni Ferran Granell. Together with Antoni Rigalt, they founded a stained-glass company. With this company, they worked on iconic works of Catalan Modernism. This building surely contains one of the best examples of Modernist stained glass and the idea of ​​creating a Total Art where architecture, sculpture, wrought iron, painting, ceramics, glass, and wood come together to create an art where all elements are of equal importance. The term Total Art was coined by Richard Wagner, who wanted to integrate music, theater, and the visual arts.

Today, music also participates in the intentions of the Catalan Modernist movement to create a space where all the arts converge. On the mezzanine, we find the workshop of Master Luthier Xavier Vidal i Roca, where bowed string musical instruments are built, restored, and tested in a relaxed, elegant, and welcoming atmosphere, just as these stately homes sought to achieve at the beginning of the 20th century.

Once on the stairs, we can see a period elevator that takes us to the different floors and apartments. Four floors with two symmetrical apartments on each floor, plus the mezzanine where Master Vidal's workshop is located.

The interior of the approximately 180 m² apartments is very spacious. This sense of space is also due to the ceilings, which were over 3 meters high, as was common in many houses of the period.

In the front rooms, light floods in, and the ceiling decoration is sober but beautiful and elegant. It consists of a series of stucco reliefs depicting floral motifs. The chosen elements are artichokes, chestnuts, and blossoming buds and/or figs.

Artichokes are attributed with the symbolic meaning of fertility and exuberance. They are found in the entrance hallway, which leads to the rest of the house.

The chestnuts, located in the main room, represent vigor, generosity, and justice.

Finally, the last variety is more difficult to identify. It could be figs or blossoming buds. If they were figs, they would be associated with survival, but also with generosity, hospitality, and natural wealth. If they were flowering buds, they would be associated with agricultural wealth.

Whatever the fruits, they are all related to exuberance, generosity, and natural wealth.

This interest of the bourgeoisie of the time in displaying their wealth and status is not only found in the façade (appearance) but also in the interior of the homes, where these symbols are intended to show the people who live there.

The leaves on the roof are currently not polychrome, although they were originally. Now, the touches of color are found in the fruits painted with gold pigments that make them stand out from the rest.

Floral and plant motifs were widely used during the Modernist era because industrialization had distanced people from nature. Artists and all urban classes sought to recover these natural elements lost in their everyday life through furniture decoration, sgraffito, stained glass, and other decorative elements.

The Granell house reveals itself to us as a small botanical garden petrified by the architect's magic.

The beauty of the homes' interiors is not only due to the ceiling decoration but also to the floors. As the architect in charge of the house's restoration, Toni Solanes, comments, "The floors are hydraulic mosaic in the main rooms and ceramic in the service rooms. The mosaic forms borders resembling carpets, as was common in this type of work."

Like many Modernista houses of the period, such as Casa Batllò, Casa Atmetller, Casa Lleó Morera, and Casa Fuster, Casa Granell is named after its developer. What differentiates this from the rest of the houses is that the developer was also the architect. This allowed Jeroni Ferran Granell complete freedom when creating the building. He was able to do so without any artistic restrictions.

This is a point worth highlighting, since the ideals of Modernista art sought creative freedom, but reality was often different, and architects faced limitations imposed by the developers of the project. One of the most well-known cases is the one that affected Gaudí during the construction of Casa Batlló, where his family forced him to replace some of the collaborators he was working with because they disagreed with his artistic vision. The matter ended in court due to the alteration of the initial project.

Modernism seeks freedom to create new forms that were previously unacceptable.

Domenech i Muntaner, one of the first Modernist architects, wanted to emphasize two aspects: a desire to draw inspiration from historical national styles such as Catalan Romanesque and Gothic architecture, and a trust in the architect's creativity and expertise to utilize the most suitable styles.

Regarding the Granell house, these ideas proposed by Domenech i Muntaner would have been achieved if the architect were the developer, so he could unleash his imagination without any constraints and create what he considered his finest work. Granell, however, has other buildings scattered throughout Barcelona, ​​as he lived during one of the most pivotal periods of Catalan Modernism. Having been born into a family of renowned architects, it is certain that his father passed on his love of work to him. In all his works, we can admire an elegant sobriety and an interest in beautifying buildings using diverse artistic techniques and elements.

Granell died in 1931, as did Santiago Rossinyol, another versatile artist of Catalan Modernism. Modernism was no longer in vogue at the time, but it had helped give Barcelona the distinctive appearance we all know.

Adaptation of texts by Carme Balcells and Aleix Moncal.