"An elegant modernist building in the mountains north of Barcelona, originally constructed to house engineers establishing a nearby mine, has been confirmed as a work of Antoni Gaudi, Catalonia's most celebrated and distinctive architect. The Xalet del Catllaras, about 80 miles from Barcelona in the county of Bergueda, was built in 1905 and commissioned by Eusebi Guell, Gaudi's lifelong patron. Guell was the owner of a cement company with mines in the region and he needed somewhere to house the engineers, many of them British, who would help extract the coal for his factories."
"It has long been suspected that the chalet, now not in use, was the work of Gaudi but historians had not firmly established the architect. The building contains elements of Gaudi's naturalistic style, evoking the forms of plants and animals that would later be expressed in works such as Park Guell and the Casa Batllo in Barcelona. The pointed arch structure also foreshadows Gaudi's best-known work, the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona."
"Sonia Hernandez Almodovar, the Catalan culture minister, said the attribution was the fruit of rigorous research which is of enormous value for our heritage and enriched Gaudi's legacy on the centenary of his death. The analysis was carried out by the Catalan heritage department led by the chair of Gaudi studies, Galdric Santana Roma. After much research we have concluded that the Xalet del Catllaras is the work of Gaudi, he said. However, this attribution is strictly limited to the initial stages of the project as Gaudi didn't supervise the work which didn't follow faithfully the original design. Santana said the process of certifying an architectural work is very different from that of a painting and the knowledge acquired in the study of the chalet will contribute"
Xalet del Catllaras, a 1905 modernist chalet in Bergueda north of Barcelona, has been authenticated as an early work by Antoni Gaudi. Eusebi Guell commissioned the building to house engineers working the local coal mines for his cement company. The chalet displays Gaudi's naturalistic motifs evoking plant and animal forms and a pointed-arch structure that foreshadows the Sagrada Familia. Catalan heritage researchers led by Galdric Santana Roma conducted the analysis and concluded the attribution applies to the initial design stages only, since Gaudi did not supervise completion and the executed work diverged from his plans.
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