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Casa Calvet. Pictures of Barcelona, sagrada familia, la pedrera, park guell











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Casa Calvet (1898-1899)

If we look back up towards the top, we observe that the balconies to either side of the tribune are more soaring and their stone slabs are tri-lobed.

These balconies mark two small beams which correspond to the gables of the upper part of the facade. These have holes in them in order to allow passage to the two smaller balconies with the cranes when it was time to move in the furniture. On the tops of the gables are two globes of the world on stands engraved with the year of the building's culmination. And on top of them, we see two four-armed crosses.

Lastly, in the small beams opposite the gable beams, appear three busts representing San Pedro Mártir - one of Sr. Calvet's patrons - San Ginés notary and San Ginés actor, patrons from Sr. Calvet's birth town, Vilassar de Dalt.

The vestibule of the first floor is decorated with a high socle of blue tiles and a white swirl, and ironed stucco simulating the deconstruction of a brick wall. The elevator, made of a combination of iron, wood, and glass, is surrounded by the stairway, with its salomonic columns of artificial armed granite, simulating marble.

In the patio behind the stairwell and again on every story, appears the motto of Jocs Florals: Faith, Nation, and Love.

The doors on the various stories have melted brass and gold-plated peepholes and knobs, which were designed by Gaudí in fresh clay and moulded with his own fingers. It is also surprising that all of the ceilings are made of wood instead of the typical plaster; this is due to the fact that Gaudí did not want to wait for the plasterers to finish up with another project they were working on and so hired the carpenters to do the ceilings.

In the back facade, appear projecting balconies with balustrade railings and the bodies of two closed tribunes on every level. For the back patio, only accessible from the second story, Gaudí designed original flower pots of artificial stone and a fountain which looks like a miniature grotto.

The basement and the first floor were to be used for a department store and offices for the owner's business; the owner's would live on the second story. The rest of the building would be rented out, with two apartments per story.

Gaudí also designed the furniture for the owner's living quarters and offices. For the second floor, he designed an area of green silk-velvet thrones with feet carved in helicoidal golden plate; and for the offices, tables and chairs with floral decorations realized in sanded, tongued and grooved oak, which adapts itself perfectly to the body with a sensation of malleability.

Casa Calvet is currently a private dwelling, meaning that we can only enjoy it's principle facade. But, one can also sit in the original trees of the offices, which have formed part of a select restaurant (which occupies the right half of the first floor) for the past few years.



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