Barcelona’s extensive Eixample district brings together a large number of modernista buildings of great architectural value. However, it is the central part which showcases most of the buildings designed in this style. Known as the Quadrat d’Or (Golden Square), it is the place where Barcelona’s moneyed classes came to live in the flats designed by the leading architects of the day, such as Gaudí.

The Quadrat d’Or is the part of the Eixample located between Carrer Aribau and the Passeig de Sant Joan, around the Passeig de Gràcia. The latter was the main artery in the new district which was built from 1860 onwards, following the demolition of the city walls which hemmed in the old Barcelona.

Following the Cerdà Plan, the neighbourhood was built with money provided by Barcelona’s well-to-do families. The city’s bourgeoisie vied with one another to build the most aesthetically refined homes in modernista buildings, with profusely decorated interiors and façades which used a wide diversity of materials, including wood, ceramics, leaded glass and wrought iron. This can be seen in many of the modernista buildings on the right side of the Eixample, where there is a plethora of buildings by architects, including Puig i Cadafalch, Domènech i Montaner and Gaudí.

Keep your eyes peeled as you walk around this central area of Barcelona’s Eixample, as you’ll find so many amazing buildings with surprising architecture. They all boast magnificent floral decorations, neo-Gothic details and stained-glass work revealing the best of modernisme. A visit to the Quadrat d’Or, a real open-air museum of modernisme, is an invitation to observe this legacy of architecture and art from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.