SPECIAL - Casas Icónicas en España!

Welcome to this SPAIN SPECIAL in our series of country specials designed to help you make the most of a week(end) away. If you missed our previous instalments on Germany, The Netherlands and France ond many more, you can find them in our news section. Let's continue our journey to Spain, where a wealth of modern house museums is ready to welcome you! Explore Barcelona, a treasure trove of 20th-century masterpieces, or take a trip to the Basque Country and make some fascinating discoveries. We’ve arranged the houses here chronologically, from youngest to oldest. Even if you decide to have a staycation, you can still travel the houses from home. Enjoy!

Note: Plan your visit(s) well in advance, as house museums can have irregular visiting times and often require online reservation.

New at Iconic Houses in 2024!

Cases Barates Bon Pastór, Barcelona, 1929
Cases Barates presents the housing history of Barcelona in the 20th century through museumization of a block of 16 working-class houses. Ten houses became one museum: four show the struggle for housing, four show the evolution of interiors between 1929-2017, the remaining two show general aspects of the themes represented.

New at Iconic Houses!
Mas Miró, Mont-roig del Camp, 1948
The farmhouse, the main building, is a typical house built by emigrants to Latin America on their (now wealthy) return home. The workshop or studio at Mas Miró stands just a few metres from the farmhouse. Built in the late 1940s, this separate building was designed by Miró himself so that he could create his sculptures there.

New at Iconic Houses!
The Sert Studio, Palma, 1956
In 1956, Joan Miró settled down in Mallorca to have the studio of his dreams, designed by Josep Lluís Sert, a prestigious architect and friend of Miró’s. Sert, who was Dean of Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design at the time, had been disqualified from working as an architect in Spain for 20 years, and so the Sert Studio marked a turning point in his career.

Museo Chillida Leku, Eduardo Chillida, Hernani, 2000
Chillida Leku is home to the most comprehensive collection of sculptor Eduardo Chillida's works. Located near San Sebastián, it comprises a sculpture park and exhibition space inside a converted 16th-century Basque country house. Here he created a place where future generations could experience his work as he intended.

Can Lis, Jørn Utzon, Mallorca, 1971
After Utzon left the Sydney Opera project in 1966, he settled on Majorca, first buying land in the mountains where Can Feliz, Utzon’s other house, was eventually built in 1994. But, the local authorities would not permit him to build on the mountainside. Instead, he bought land near Porto Petro, on a steep cliff facing the sea, where he built Can Lis.

Casa Broner, Erwin Broner, Ibiza, 1960
German architect and painter Erwin Broner built this house, spectacularly located on a clifftop in Sa Penya. Broner also designed the furniture, which is exhibited in the house, together with his paintings, drawings and personal items. Casa Broner beautifully combines the native architectural tradition of Ibiza with the style of the Bauhaus.

Casa Moratiel, Josep Maria Sostres i Maluquer, Esplugues de Llobregat, 1958
Casa Moratiel was designed as a summer residence for Mr. Manuel Moratiel lbáñez. Sostres was one of the prominent members of Grupo R (revision, recovery or rescue of the modern movement), and this work was one of his most radical attempts to recover the principles of modern architecture in Spain after the dictatorship.
The house is located in Ciudad Diagonal, a residential estate that resembles a garden city on the outskirts of Barcelona.

La Ricarda, Antonio Bonet Castellana, El Prat de Llobregat, 1949-63
Near Barcelona, the Gomis House (aka La Ricarda) is a modular structure spreading over the landscape in harmony with nature. The house still has all its original furnishings and is still owned by the Gomis family, although it is now threatened by the expansion of the nearby airport.

Casa Bloc Apartment Museum, Josep Lluís Sert, Josep Torres Clavé, Barcelona, 1932-1939
An innovative answer to the call for affordable housing, Casa Bloc is a long, rectilinear S-shaped building with two partially open courtyards. The 207 housing units it contains combine standardisation and flexibility. One of the apartments has been meticulously restored to its original condition.

Casa Masó, Rafael Masó, Girona, 1919
Casa Masó, the birthplace of architect Rafael Masó, is the only house along the river in Girona’s old city that is open to the public as a house museum. The house was also a meeting place for artists, literary and political figures associated with Noucentisme, an arts movement that defined Catalan culture and politics during the 1910s and 1920s.

Casa Milà / La Pedrera, Antoni Gaudí i Cornet, Barcelona, 1912
Gaudí designed Casa Milà at the height of his career. It was highly innovative in everything from spatial distribution to construction methods. It soon became known as La Pedrera (the stone quarry) because of the resemblance of its façade to an open quarry. In 1984, Unesco inscribed the building in its World Heritage List.

El Capricho de Gaudí, Antoni Gaudí i Cornet, Comillas, 1883-1885
El Capricho is one of the few buildings designed by Gaudí outside Catalonia. Located on the northern Spanish coastline, it is colourfully creative, inspired by nature and full of symbolism. Many of the materials and concepts developed here were later used for Barcelona’s Park Güell, La Pedrera, Casa Batlló and the Sagrada Família.

Posted February 16, 2024. Updated September 4, 2024