Casa Milá La Pedrera Gaudí UNESCO House

About Casa Milá La Pedrera Gaudí UNESCO House

Casa Milá is locally known as La Pedrera or Casa Pedrera, which translates to the rock or stone quarry because of the undulating rough cut appearance of the façade. It is one of two Gaudí houses in Passeig de Grácia (500 metres from Casa Batlló) and was the last private residence commission for architect Antoni Grácia.

Casa Milá/La Pedrera History

The house was commissioned by a wealthy couple. Pere Milá y Camps was a developer and his wife, Roser Segimon i Artells, the widow of a coffee plantation owner in Guatamala. Construction began in 1906 with the demolition of the existing house and gardens on the plot..

Casa Milá/La Pedrera uses a free floating steel frame to support the façade with cement made from a mix of montjuic stone poweder and mortar to bind the carved Garaf Massif Limestone blocks and Villefranche quarry (French Pyrenees) stone blocks. This construction technique allowed large window openings on the façade with a structurally separate interior that would permit the owners to move interior walls without compromising the structure of the building façade.

The relation between the Milá's and Gaudí was strained due to construction delays and large fines imposed by the town hall because of breaches of building codes. A pillar o the façade was found to be outside of the defined grid street footprint set out by the urbanisation of La Eixample. The height of the roof terrace also exceeded regulations and the total square meterage of the interior exceeded limitations. Gaudí was indifferent to the town hall notices and Pere Milá was given a large fine resulting in him needing a Mortgage to pay for the house. These problems were solved when the La Pedrera was declared a monumental building and not required to adhere strictly to bylaws.

Construction was completed in 1910 and from 1912 the first floor flat was inhabited by the Milá family.

The building was sold to Josep Ballvé i Pellisé in 1940 when Pere Milá died, his widow Roser remained in the first floor flat until her death in 1964. The Milá apartment became office space and the original Gaudí decoration was lost, The building also contained a bingo hall and the upper floors were also subdivided into flats. By the 1970s the building was quite dilapidated.

In 1984 the building became part of a World Heritage Site encompassing some of Gaudí's works. Caixa Catalunya, A large Catalan bank, bought the building in 1986 and extensive renovation work was done to the main façade. The fourth floor was restored to an exhibition and museum space. The arched loft space and roof terrace are also open as museum space.

Casa Milá/La Pedrera was granted World Heritage Status in 1984.

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