Padellàs's House

MUHBA- Padellas's House.350002

Padellàs's House (Casa Padellàs) is a Gothic private palazzo, originally built in 25 Mercaders street, in Barcelona. Due to the opening of Via Laietana, which put in danger its conservation, the building was dismounted in 1931 and relocated in Plaça del Rei, in Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter. Since 1943, it hosts Barcelona City History Museum. It is catalogued since 1962 as a Bé Cultural d’Interès Nacional (Cultural Good of National Interest) with B grade,[1] and its urban qualification is 7a(p).[2]

Architecture

Its structure obeys to the most common model of Catalan gothic palazzo. The façade is plain, without a special emphasis on decoration, walls just pierced by windows and the main portal. Through it, a court is accessed. Court works as house nucleus. There is the Barcelona City History Museum entrance, a well and the main staircase, ascending along court sides towards the main floor. There stands a gallery of gothic arches, At the top of the building another gallery sustains the roof. Outside, lower windows display some Renaissance decorative motifs. Upper windows, with balconies, were pierced in 18th C. Inside, rooms are adapted to its current function as museum exhibition rooms. Its original decoration was not preserved because the deconstruction / reconstruction / relocation of the whole building.


History

From the Hearth tax it can be guessed that Padellàs House was built between 1497 and 1515 in Mercaders St. 25,[3] in Barcelona. Probably, the work was promoted by Joan d’Hostalric-Sabastida i Llull, royal counsellor and county governor of Rosselló and Cerdanya, ennobled in 1513.[4] In 1584 it became property of Casamitjana’s family, and one of its inhabitants was the Head Counsellor of Barcelona, Rafael Casamitjana d’Erill (1651). Eventually, its owners changed again, and during the eighteenth century, it became property of Padellàs's family, from who it received the name which remained until today. Francesc de Padellàs defended Barcelona during the War of the Spanish Succession but when defeat was imminent changed side and supported the Bourbon cause. In 1759, its son, Bernardí de Padellàs, was ennobled by Charles III of Spain. Afterwards, in the first decades of twentieth century, there were several changes of ownership, until 1928, when the house was acquired by the Barcelona Municipality. After the relocation of 1931 and the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), it was decided to convert Padellàs's House into the Barcelona City History Museum headquarters, which opened in 1943.

Temporary exhibitions held in Padellàs's House

Nowadays, Padellàs's House is one of the exhibition space of MUHBA (Barcelona City History Museum), which also organizes exhibitions in Saló del Tinell and other spaces. From 1996 to nowadays, it has been hosting several exhibitions about history of Barcelona.

References

  1. ↑ Inventari del Patrimoni Arquitectònic de Catalunya
  2. ↑ Catàleg del Patrimoni Arquitectònic de Barcelona
  3. ↑ UDINA MARTORELL, Federico. «Orígenes de la Casa Padellás, sede central del museo y sucesivos poseedores». Cuadernos de Arqueología e Historia de la Ciudad [Barcelona], núm. 1, 1960, p. 108
  4. ↑ DURAN I SANPERE, Agustí. Barcelona i la seva història. L'Art i la cultura. Barcelona: Curial, 1975. ISBN 84-7256-072-4.

Coordinates: 41°23′02″N 2°10′40″E / 41.3838°N 2.1779°E / 41.3838; 2.1779

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