At number 246 on Diputació street, between Balmes and Rambla de Catalunya, I came across this fantastic Modernist house: Casa Berenguer, also known as Casa Clapés or, popularly, La Berenguera.
The house was projected by architects and brothers Joaquim and Bonaventura Bassegoda i Amigó, for the Berenguer family, and was built between 1907 and 1908.
Coming from a modest family of weavers, the Berenguers managed to make a fortune and enter the high bourgeoisie of Barcelona in the early 20th century, when the company, active in the spinning and textile sector, was extraordinarily profitable. The benefits of the business allowed them to invest in the construction of several properties, including this house, commissioned by one of the owners of the textile company “Sobrinos de Berenguer”, industrialist Casimir Clapés.
The facade of the Berenguer house, of outstanding ornamental richness, includes several design elements related to textile activity, such as the pinyon spinner or the woman with the loom who presides over the tribune.
The whole ensemble of the facade is a mixture of Gothic references, especially the pointed bows and the trilobed lintels of the windows, with notably Modernist ones, such as the floral decoration or the sinuous and pronounced shape of the balconies on the top floor.
The entrance lobby is richly decorated: the walls – with sgraffito and fired or ironed stucco, and the ceiling – with wooden motifs. The space still retains the original gas lights, today adapted for electric use.
In 1990 the building was restored (project signed by Balcells i Pont arquitectes), and converted into luxury offices for rent.
About the architects
Architect 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 Bonaventura he was the author of the Rocamora houses (Passeig de Gràcia 6-14, built between 1914 and 1920), a set of three contiguous buildings of great monumentality, designed in Modernist style with Gothic-inspired details. They also signed the project of the Bosch i Alsina house (Plaça de Catalunya, 8, 1891-1892) comissioned by Ròmul Bosch i Alsina, doctor and industrialist who presided over the port of Barcelona for many years.
The context of Modernist houses commissioned by industrialists
Even if not as famous as the Batlló house on Passeig de Gràcia (Josep Batlló i Casanovas, the owner of the house deigned by Gaudí, was also active in the textile sector), the Modernist houses commissioned by industrialists, merchants or manufacturers stand out for their unique facades and sometimes include discrete (or evident, as in Casa Berenguer) design references to their activity.
Within a walking distance from Casa Berenguer I found, among others, the three “other” Batlló houses (designed by Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas, the author of the Triumph arch), owned by another branch of the Batlló family, also connected to the textile industry), or the Juncosa house, built by Modernist architect Salvador Vinyals i Sabaté for chocolatier Evarist Juncosa.
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