Tuesday, November 16, 2010

La Casa del los Pinxos

Some of you might be familiar with "pinxos" as a type of tapas, whereby each dish has a cocktail stick or two in the top which are counted at the end of your meal as method of payment in some restaurants. Well, alas, this is not a post about a restaurant of that name (may be tackled on another occasion!).

Casa de los Pinxos - Barcelona Sights blogNo, this is me thinking that there are so many cool buildings in Barcelona that often get overlooked due to the usual suspects taking all the glory. So it occurred to me that I could start a kind of mini-series of posts about buildings that are very distinctive and cool in their very own way, but don't necessarily merit a visit if you were on a whistle-stop tour of the city over some of the UNESCO masterpieces Gaudi's master hand penned.

So resisting the temptation of heading straight to wikipedia, I'll try and give you my opinion on a few places, the first of which is Casa Bartomeu Terrades i Brutau, more commonly known as the House of Spikes.

Barcelona Sights - Pinxos Towers

I've passed this building loads of times when my wife was pregnant with our two nippers as her doc was on that route, and I'd always found it very cool Like a downtown Disney castle with all the turrets and towers. I also don't mind admitting that I wouldn't have been surprised to learn it was a Gaudi design - given the brickwork similar to Park Güell and Palau Güell, too.

Facade of Casa de los Pinxos - Barcelona Sights Blog

It's the design of another popular guy, though, Josep Piug i Cadafalch, and is actually three houses in one, built for Terrades' three daughters. As seems to be the norm with many of the Modernista buildings (and this is the only bit I'm quoting from an outside source) in 1905 a pamphleteer described the house as "a crime against the nation". If it looks wacky in 2010, I'm sure it must have raised a few eyebrows in 1905, but crime? me thinks not.

Brickwork at the House of Spikes - Barcelona Sights Blog

You could probably combine seeing this building on a sort of Modernista walk as it's visible from Diagonal/Rosello and not too far from Paseig de Gracia and also Casa Viçens, for example.

Ornate Entrance at Casa Pinxos - Barcelona Sights

Are you coming to Barcelona soon? Check out these apartments in Barcelona as a great alternative to a hotel room. And if you're looking for a quick Barcelona guide, click the link.

UPDATE: Thanks for te comments correcting me on my terrible Catalan...here's the right spelling and photo!

Casa de Les Punxes - Correct this time! Barcelona Sights

12 comments:

Chloé said...

Barcelona is full of beautiful buildings, and it's definitively worth to know others thongs than Gaudi.
Thank you!
Chloé,
www.lifestylebarcelona.com

Railway Reservation said...

Amazing picture.My thinking that there are so many cool buildings in Barcelona that often get overlooked

Unknown said...

Thanks for the comments guys!

belsaita said...

But this is not "la casa de los Pintxos" but "La casa de les Puntxes"... similar words, but different languages (Pintxos is Basque, Puntxes is Catalan), and different meanings!!.... :)

Unknown said...

hehe, thanks Belsaita - not the first time I've made a mistake with the Catalan translations, and good job I have people like you to correct me!

It's terrible, as I even took a photo of the plaque with the name on, and was going to add it to the post, but seemed like too many pics... :0/

Peter said...

Nice photos! But who was Terrades? Would be nice to know what he made his money from

Unknown said...

Thanks Lazaro. I'm not sure!! I had to resist the temptation of just wikipedia-ing the post, so will throw open any historical facts people may be inclined to add to here!

Feel free guys...;o)

belsaita said...

hehehe... I know our language is not easy sometimes ;-))

Regarding Mr. Terrades I think to remember he made his fortune in the textile industry (but I may be wrong, this was how many fortunes grow at that time and I may be confused with someone else). However, he was better know as football player and then one of the founders and president of the Barça team.

Anonymous said...

What is OUR language. Mine is English but yours....

Unknown said...

Well, "Anonymous", if you read the comments, I think Belsaita is referring to Catalan...not that hard, surely...?

Gawkdicity said...

Thanks for showing the lesser known architectural routes. The main sights are amazing but there are some other great buildings that are worth acknowledging as well...

Unknown said...

Thanks for the comment, Gawkdicity. This was going to be the start of me prosing more of the "other" buidlings, and didn't really take off! Let's hope you can fill in for me a bit, there, eh?! Now with the mobile intentions?

Also, co-incidentally, I went past this building again the other day, and it's undergoing restauration work to the facade and has one of those cool covers that makes it look like nothing is missing!!

 
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