Passeig de Gràcia, Barcelona

Passeig de Gràcia is both one of the major avenues in Barcelona and also one of its most important shopping and business areas, containing several of the city’s most celebrated pieces of architecture. It is located in the central part of Eixample, stretching from Plaça Catalunya to Carrer Gran de Gràcia. In terms of the cost of renting or buying property anywhere in this avenue, Passeig de Gràcia is nowadays regarded as the most expensive street in Barcelona and also in Spain, ahead even of Calle Serrano in Madrid.Fact|date=March 2008

History

Formerly known as Camí de Jesús (“Jesus Road”), it used to be little more than a quasi-rural lane surrounded by gardens joining Barcelona and Gràcia (then still a separate town), until the first urbanisation project in 1821 devised by the liberal city council, and led by Ramon Plana, who had to suddenly cancel his work due to the epidemics that were raging in Barcelona at the time. After the demise of the liberal government with the return of Absolutism in 1824, the project was taken up again by general José Bernaldo de Quirós, marquis of Campo Sagrado. The new avenue was 42 metres wide in 1827 and became a favourite place for aristocrats to display their horse riding skills and expensive horse-drawn carriages all through the 19th century.

In 1906 the architect Pere Falqués i Urpí designed the avenue's now famous ornate benches and street-lights. By that time it had become Barcelona’s most fashionable street, with buildings designed by modernista/Art Nouveau architects of fame such as Antoni Gaudí, Pere Falqués, Josep Puig i Cadafalch, Lluís Domènech i Montaner, Enric Sagnier and Josep Vilaseca.

The government of the Basque Country (Eusko Jaurlaritza) was based in Passeig de Gràcia, 60 during the Spanish Civil War. The Catalan poet Salvador Espriu resided in Casa Fuster (Passeig de Gràcia, 132).

Notable buildings

*Illa de la discòrdia
**Casa Amatller by Josep Puig i Cadafalch (1890-1900)
**Casa Batlló by Antoni Gaudí (1904-1906)
**Casa Lleó Morera by Lluís Domènech i Montaner (1902-1906)
**Museu del Perfum

*Cases Antoni Rocamora by Josep Bassegoda i Amigó (1914-1917)
*Casa Bonaventura Ferrer by Pere Falqués i Urpí (1906)
*Casa Fuster by Josep Puig i Cadafalch (1908-1911)
*Casa Milà “La Pedrera” by Antoni Gaudí (1905-1910)
*Casa Pons i Pascual by Enric Sagnier (1891)
*Casa Ramon Casas by Antoni Rovira i Rabassa (1898)
*Palau Robert (1903)

*Teatre Tívoli
*Jardins de Salvador Espriu

Hotels

*Hotel Casa Fuster
*Hotel Condes de Barcelona
*Hotel Majestic Barcelona
*Hotel Prestige Paseo de Gràcia (built in 1897)

Cinemas

*Casablanca-Kaplan
*Comedia

Luxury goods

International brands like Chanel, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Bvlgari, Armani, Chopard, Giorgio Armani, Roberto Verino, Cartier, Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana, Yves Saint-Laurent, Burberry, Ermenegildo Zegna, Lacoste, Tommy Hilfiger, Max Mara, Carolina Herrera, Loewe among others.

Transportation

*Passeig de Gràcia (Barcelona Metro)
*Diagonal (Barcelona Metro)
*Passeig de Gràcia train station

ee also

*Eixample, List of streets in Eixample
*Ildefons Cerdà
*Gràcia
*Modernisme, Art Nouveau
*Noucentisme
*Barcelona

References

* ALBAREDA, Joaquim, GUÀRDIA, Manel i altres."Enciclopèdia de Barcelona", Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana, Barcelona, 2006.

External links

* [http://www.poblesdecatalunya.cat/municipi.php?m=080193E03 Photo album from Pobles de Catalunya]
* [http://www.gencat.net/turistex_nou/bcnvirtual2002/nodo49.htm Passeig de Gràcia in detail at Gencat.net]
* [http://www.barcelona-on-line.es/cas/turisme/bcn_moder_psgracia.htm "Modernisme" in Barcelona - Passeig de Gràcia]
* [http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/albums-sp/passeig-gracia/index.html Photo album from Barcelona Tourist Guide]