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El Capricho de Comillas (1883-1885)
This work was completed during a period in which there was a highly prevalent Arabian influence present in Gaudí's work, as is the case with Casa Vicens and Finca Güell. The developer who backed this construction was Máximo Díaz de Quijano, who in 1883 asked Gaudí to build a recreational villa in Comillas, just outside of Santander (in northern Spain). This is a horseshoe-shaped building that can be inscribed in a 15x36-meter rectangle, which consists of a partially aboveground basement, main floor and attic. The basement, which was not designed to fill the entire perimeter of the house because of uneven ground, houses the kitchen, laundry room, garage and servants' quarters. The main floor includes the formal dining room, parlor and bedrooms, while the attic was dedicated to other uses. Two spiral staircases, one in the entry hall and another near the dining room, connected the different floors. The facade consists of bossed ashlar masonry with over-emphasized horizontal joints on the lower section of the house (partially above-ground basement), and alternating yellow and red brickwork, with strips of relief tiles representing green leaves and sunflowers on the section corresponding to the main floor and the attic. The main doorway is placed inside a portico formed by four columns with capitals adorned with plant motifs; above the door stands a tower that is reminiscent of Arabian minarets, from the highest point of which one can see the sea.
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