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Casa Milà is a building located on Passeig de Gràcia street in the Eixample district of Barcelona, the administrative center of Catalonia, and was designed and built by Antoni Gaudí between 1906 and 1910[1]. It is also known by the nickname La Pedrera (“The Quarry”).
It was built for Pere Milà, who married Roser Segimon i Artells, the widow of José Guardiola, one of the Indiano (rich people who returned to their homeland and settled after making money in the colonies in America). Is Roser interested in Pere Milà, the lady’s second husband and known for his greed for money and wealth, the “Guardiola’s widow” or the “Widow’s guardiola (piggy bank)” as Barcelona people call him? It was joked and ridiculed.[2]
Gaudi completed the construction of this building, where he reached the pinnacle of his artistic fantasies, between 1906 and 1912. The building was designed as a residence consisting of flats and offices, and is the first example of a Modernist building in Barcelona designed to be sold flat by flat. The reason why the construction period of the building is prolonged is that it is frequently blocked and fined, especially due to non-compliance with the municipality’s building laws. For this reason, Gaudi could not fulfill the original project exactly.
The artist wanted to create the feeling of wavy sea and seaweed on the façade. Cast iron balcony bars help perceive the wave effect more strongly.
In 1984, it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list as Parc Güell, Palais Güell, Casa Mila à Barcelone, together with Güell Park and Güell Mansion. In 2005, Sagrada Familia is registered with Les œuvres d’Antoni Gaudí, after Casa Batlló was also included in the Heritage list.
