|
Christmas Lottery
This year we are repeating the number 25652 for the Christmas lottery, which will be held on Dec. 22nd, 2010, because it represents Gaudí's sate of birth: the 25th of June, 1852 – 25-6-52 – a reversible number. Every year we run out of tickets, as they are very popular among our members.
Don't wait until the last moment to order your ticket. They will be on sale only until Dec. 8th
Share in our dream of winning the grand prize! If we all wish it strong enough, we will surely be able to win, and LOOK AT THE PRIZES!!
Prizes for Christmas lottery number 25652:
If we win the grand prize...
3.000.000 euros
1 décimo 20 euros
300.000 euros
1 ticket for 5 Euros
75.000 euros
Our member and eminent artist of the mosaic as each year LIVIA GARRETA
organized a class for those who want to be introduced in developing
mosaics or trencadís
The next beginner's course starts on September 21, 2010, Tuesday
Address: Pere Serafí, 39, ground floor Gracia
08006 Barcelona
Schedule: 17 a 19 h
Duration: 8 horas
For more information contact Ms. Livia Tel. 627 680 479
E-mail: mosaics@liviagarreta.com
CASA VICENÇ ON SALE
Vicens House (1883)
The Vicens House is the first work of Gaudí as an architect where he flaunted all his wisdom and which still remains as one of the most important monuments and the first one of its civil architectural line. That is why in 1927, the Vicens House received from the Barcelona City Council the much deserved price as the best and most emblematic building of the city.
The Vicens House is located at 24th Carolines Street in the popular district of Gracia in Barcelona.
Mr. Manuel Vicens Montaner, broker and not potter as he always thought, commissioned in between 1878 and 1880 to Gaudí a House on the lot he inherited from his mother in 1877. The land was in between the convent of Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent of Paül and a dead-end street perpendicular to the Carlines Street. Gaudí stuck the building to the dividing wall of the convent in order to obtain a big and spacious garden.
The original draft of Antoni Gaudí is dated March 1883 and was distributed in an elongated area of about 12 x 18 feet with basement, ground floor, first floor and attic. The ground floor was distributed around the room with a veranda, a room for smokers and two more rooms. The level of this floor was a little raised from the ground level to allow greater ventilation and lighting of the basement, an area intended for warehouses and storage room. The upper floor, where the bedrooms of the family were, was accessed via a staircase compensated with a U form. The ladder continued up to the attic, where the service’s bedrooms were located.
The Vicens House was built from two bays parallel to the dividing wall with the convent, which rely on wood joists and the Catalan vaults, except in the basement, which it has vaults. The sloping roof is a gable with four skirts and around it there is a small path that allows easy maintenance.
As in all works of Gaudí, vents and chimneys are profusely decorated with the same ceramic material of the facade and draw attention of any passerby. The pottery, decorated with floral motifs characteristic of the modernist era came from Girona. The facade walls are made of masonry view adorned with ceramic horizontal stripes representing the carnation flower of the Indies (Moorish carnation, in Catalan) that Gaudí saw on the ground before the project. From the second floor on, these lines become vertical, and its lining alternates green and white tiles. The windows are protected from the sun and onlookers with a beautiful geometrical square shutters.
The interior decoration of the house is notable for the large amount of plaster reliefs and paintings of birds and plants of nature, made with great detail. It also highlights the small smoker living room decorated in Arabic style.
In the south-west facade stands a small gallery open to the outside, with wooden blinds tilt same style as the shutters. On the ceiling of this gallery are drawn palm leaves pretending to be exposed.
Since 1899, the Vicens House is owned by the family Jover, who has tried to keep it in good condition, while respecting the design of Gaudí. Nevertheless, in 1925 asked the same architect an enlargement of the house, after having acquired the land it occupied the convent, which had been shot down, but he refused it because he was totally dedicated to the works of the Sagrada Família, and recommended the young architect Joan Serra de Martínez. These reforms consisted primarily on the expansion of the entire building in a corridor, closing the gallery, relocate the staircase to the bedrooms and add a room on the north side. Serra de Martínez consulted Gaudí before the reforms, and he gave his approval.
Another reform that had to be done, this time because of the widening of the Carolines Street, was to change the access of the house. If in Gaudí's original plan the main entrance was perpendicular to the street, this one had to be rotated 90 degrees south and the old one became windows. Serra de Martinez was commissioned to design grilles for these openings as they were now directly on the street (as you can see today). The source-circular fountain that adorned the area of the garden was also removed.
The Vicens House is declared a historic-artistic monument under the Ordinance of July 24th of 1969 and in July 2005 was declared World Heritage by UNESCO.
Although the building is privately owned, opens its doors once a year on the occasion of the Local Festivals, and it is possible to visit outside and stroll through its garden.
If you are interested in buying it contact us at gaudi@gaudiclub.com. You are welcome to send us your comments and suggestions.
| 
