Before he was struck and killed by an unforgiving streetcar in Barcelona in 1926, Antoni Gaudí had already designed buildings so original and personal that they transcend any easy classification into a broader movement. Not really Art Noveau, not really Early Modernist, not really Expressionist. His work continues to define Barcelona and Catalan culture- Casa Milà, Casa Batlló, Parc Güell. The great unfinished Temple of the Holy Family (La Sagrada Familia), started by someone else yet irreversibly changed by Gaudí, is still being built by followers attempting to finish and detail a project not as they would themselves but as someone dead for almost 80 years would.

Casa Batlló
(1904) Barcelona, Spain

Technically not on Los Ramblas but Passeig de Gràcia, Casa Batlló (on the west side of the street a half a block away from Casa Milà) was a single family private residence that changed the world (or at least Barcelona).

La Pedrera /Casa Milà
(1910) Barcelona, Spain

After the success of Casa Batlló, Gaudí's design for a nearby apartment building was more of the same with another wildly original, sculptural building. Worth a visit to stand on the roof and pick out your favorite chinmney.

Click here to go to the Caixa Cataluyna site, the association that runs the Espai Gaudí and controls access to the building and its incomparable roof

Parc Güell
(1915) Barcelona, Spain

Originally designed as a commercial and residential development, Parc Güell was considered a failure at the time. Today it probably the world's nicest city park with a mosaic lizard statue. Probably.

Temple de la Sagrada Família
(2040) Barcelona, Spain

Gaudí's singular masterpiece (and Barcelona's once and future icon) was started by another architect and will be finished long after the death of Gaudí's great grandchildren, if he had any.

Click here somrtime before 2040 to see if construction has wrapped up yet

Slideshow | Temple de la Sagrada Família

See more of the Temple de la Sagrada Família (and fifteen more places) at the ArBITAT Places page... (go to places.ArBITAT.com)

ArBITAT FutureWatch

Sooner or later (probably later) Sagrada Familia will be finished. Follow its progress at ArBITAT FutureWatch... (go to ArBITAT FutureWatch)