Casa Berenguer

At number 246 on Diputació street, between Balmes and Rambla Catalunya, you can find one of the great modernist works of the city: Casa Berenguer, also known as Casa Clapés or, popularly, La Berenguera.

Commissioned by the industrialist Casimir Clapés of the textile society Sobrinos de Berenguer, it was projected by the Bassegoda brothers, Bonaventura, Joaquim and Pere, and was built between 1907 and 1908. The Berenguer came from a modest family of weavers who managed to make a fortune and enter the high bourgeoisie of Barcelona in the early 20th century, and the company was extraordinarily profitable. In 1898 they chose to invest in the spinning sector and the benefits of the business allowed them to also invest in the construction of several properties including this house.

The facade of the Berenguer House is richly ornamented in stone, featuring floral designs as well as a pinion that crowns the central part of the facade and contains an allegorical sculpture of the textile industry.

The whole ensemble is a mixture of Gothic references with other notably modernist ones, such as the sinuous and pronounced balconies on the top floor.

It is considered the most interesting work of the Bassegoda brothers. In 1990 the building was carefully restored, which also included many elements of furniture and interior structural decoration.

Joaquim Bassegoda i Amigó graduated in 1878. He was a professor and director of the School of Architecture of Barcelona (1922-1924). Together with his brother, he was the author in Barcelona of the Rocamora houses (Passeig de Gràcia 6-14, 1914-1920), a set of three contiguous buildings of great monumentality, modernist style with a Gothic tendency and a certain Frenchified air; stand out in the façade the galleries crowned by vaulted vaults and a tower in the chamfer with conical roof, as well as ornamental plateresque motifs. Other works of his were: the Bosch i Alsina house (Plaza de Cataluña 8, 1891-1892 ), along with his brother and uncle Pere Bassegoda i Mateu.