Origins of Casa Battlo

Casa Batllo, locally known as the ‘house of bones’, is a remodelling job. In 1904, Antoni Gaudi convinced the new owners he could do a re-design and they didn’t need to pull down the original building and start from scratch. Clearly a man of vision, Señor Batllo told Gaudi to do whatever he wanted. The transformation was incredible, but interestingly, Barcelona City Council chose the design as a candidate for ‘house of the year’ and then promptly gave the award to someone else!

St George and the Dragon

Inside, Gaudi renovated the first floor into a 700m² apartment for the Batllo family, added new floors and expanded the interior well to bring light to all levels of the building. Outside, the facade is an organic masterpiece of flowing masonry and the roof, with its distinctive scaly tiles and swordlike bell-tower is a homage to Catalonia’s patron saint, Sant Jordi, who according to legend, killed a dragon.

Casa Battlo Bonkers

It is, quite frankly, bonkers. Gaudi doing what Gaudi does best, so what on earth the locals thought of it a 100 years ago is anyones guess. But above all, if you do not have time to see anything else by the Catalan master while you are here, then, in our humble opinion, Casa Batllo is the one to pick.