Casa Terradas, nicknamed Casa de les Punxes (House of Spires) was built between 1903 and 1905, for the three daughters of Bartomeu Terradas i Mont. The Catalan architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch was commissioned for the project and he envisioned three separate houses seamlessly blended together to look like one massive medieval castle along the lines of the Wagner-inspired fashion of northern Europe.
While most Modernista architects avoided straight lines, Puig i Cadafalch focused on the triangle in his design of Casa de les Punxes. Only the towers on the edges of the main facades are curved. He also chose to show off his innovative construction techniques adopted from the Industrial Revolution inside the houses. Iron columns supporting the weight of the building are exposed on the ground floor and in the attic, and sleek poles slice through the middle of the six towers, revealing the basic framework of the building as well as providing an aesthetic that you won’t find in any other Modernista architect’s work. Because of his occasional deviations from the defining characteristics of Modernisme, some consider Casa de les Punxes the last house of Modernisme and the first of Noucentisme.
Casa de les Punxes was opened to the public in August 2016 for the first time in 110 years, however, it was closed during the pandemic and has not reopened. There is now a coworking space located on the ground floor which, unfortunately, is the only space open to the public.
Updated May 14, 2025.