A modernist cornucopia: Mansions
As I strolled around Barcelona, I stepped into tens of houses made in the modernist style, the local version of the Art Nouveau. Beginning in the 19th century, as Barcelona experienced its industrial revolution, the city’s population grew quickly. In 1861, it was decided to multiply the size of the city, building a brand new neighbourhood, called the Eixample (expansion). It’s the square-shaped section anyone can spot on a map of the city. In the subsequent building boom, factory owners wanted their flats to look like palaces and hired local modernist architects. Suddenly, a curious change happened to the pavements. Until then, floors were simple, at most with some white and blue ceramic tiles here and there, in the old Catalan style, such as the Sant Pau Hospital. For the most part, floors were covered with carpets. But then carpet design was transferred directly to the floor. The modernist pavements, like those by Josep Pascó in Thomas House, look like real carpets, with their repeated patterns, frames and borders.