Barcelona Llibres

In this book, Joan Molet presents the work of the architect Pere Falqués i Urpí (1849-1916), Barcelona’s municipal architect during the years of Modernisme.

Following an introduction to the architecture of the period and the life of Falqués, we discover the beginning of his career as the municipal architect in 1874, firstly in his native Sant Andreu de Palomar and later in Sant Martí de Provençals and in Badalona. Next we see his efforts to make a career for himself in Barcelona, winning competitions for the revamp to El Liceu and for the urbanisation of Plaça de Catalunya, and forming part of the select team of architects for the Universal Expo of 1888.

After this, in the most extensive part of the book we discover the work of Falqués as the municipal architect for Barcelona, a position gained in 1889 when he took over from Antoni Rovira i Trias. This is where the author presents and analyses the architect’s major projects, which had to modernise Barcelona and turn it into a large European city: from the electric lighting in Passeig de Gràcia to the construction of the metro tunnels beneath Via Laietana, as well as the construction of new markets, museum facilities, commemorative monuments, new premises, municipal schools and even a frustrated Palau Reial.

Molet does not overlook the major private commissions that Falqués also took on in this period either, such as the Central Catalana d’Electricitat, with a clear industrial character, the houses of Baró de Bonet and Bonaventura Ferrer, where he let his own sumptuous and monumental style flow, described as “cyclopaedic”. In summary, this book invites us to discover a forgotten architect who cultivated a style which is little recognised today and which, in parallel to his modernista colleagues, contributed decisively to the construction of the modern Barcelona.