Editing Casa Milà (section)

== Building history ==

=== Architect ===
Antoni Gaudí i Cornet was born on June 25, 1852, in Catalonia, Spain.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gaudicentre.cat/en/content/gaud%C3%AD-and-reus|title=Gaudí and Reus {{!}} Gaudí Centre|website=www.gaudicentre.cat|access-date=2019-12-03|archive-date=2020-07-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727091344/https://www.gaudicentre.cat/en/content/gaud%C3%AD-and-reus|url-status=dead}}</ref> As a child, Gaudí's health was poor, suffering from rheumatism. Because of this, he was afforded lengthy periods of time resting at his summer house in Riudoms. Here he spent a large portion of his time outdoors, allowing him to deeply study nature.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lapedrera.com/en/architect-antoni-gaudi|title=Antoni Gaudí Biography|website=Casa Milà|language=en|access-date=2021-10-20}}</ref> This would become one of the major influences in his architecture to come.

Gaudí was a very practical man and a craftsman at his core. In his work he followed impulses and turned creative plans into reality. His openness to embrace new styles combined with a vivid imagination helped mold new styles of architecture and consequently helped push the limits of construction. Today he is regarded as a pioneer of the modern architecture style.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbrava.com/en/magazine/antoni-gaudi-the-sacred-architect/|title=Antoni Gaudí, the Sacred architect {{!}} CapCreus OnLine|website=www.cbrava.com|access-date=2019-12-03}}</ref>

In 1870, Gaudí moved to Barcelona to study architecture. He was an inconsistent student who showed flashes of brilliance. It took him eight years to graduate due to a mix of health complications, military service as well as other activities.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Antoni-Gaudi|title=Antoni Gaudí {{!}} Spanish architect|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2019-12-03}}</ref>

After completion of his education he became a prolific architect as well as designing gardens, sculptures and all other decorative arts. Gaudí's most famous works consisted of several buildings: Parque Güell; Palacio Güell; Casa Mila; Casa Vicens. He also is attributed for his work on the Crypt of La Sagrada Familia and the Nativity facade.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/320/|title=Works of Antoni Gaudí|website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre|language=en|access-date=2019-12-03}}</ref> Gaudí's work at the time was both admired and criticized for his bold, innovative solutions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gaudidesigner.com/uk/index.html|title=Gaudi Designer :: Home ::|website=www.gaudidesigner.com|access-date=2019-12-03|archive-date=2019-11-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191102120940/http://www.gaudidesigner.com/uk/index.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Gaudí was injured on June 7, 1926, when he was run over by a tram. He later died in the hospital due to his injuries on June 10, 1926, at the age of 73.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.art-nouveau-around-the-world.org/en/artistes/gaudi.htm|title=Antonio Gaudi (1852–1926)|website=www.art-nouveau-around-the-world.org|access-date=2019-12-03}}</ref> A few years after his death, his fame became renowned by critics and the general public alike.

===Building owners===
{{multiple image
 | header    = The owners of Casa Milà in 1910
 | width     = 150
 | image1    = PereMilaCamps.jpg
 | alt1      = Portrait of Pere Milà.
 | image2    = RoserSegimon.jpg
 | alt2      = Roser Segimon, spouse of Pere Milà.
}}
Casa Milà was built for Roser Segimón and her husband Pere Milà. Roser Segimón was the wealthy widow of Josep Guardiola, an ''[[Indiano]]'' or ''Americano'', or former colonist returned from the Americas, who had made his fortune with a coffee plantation in Guatemala. Her second husband, Pere Milà, was a developer known for his flamboyant lifestyle.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rutadelmodernisme.com/default.aspx?idioma=en&contenido=body_rutamodernisme_04en.htm |title=Ruta del Modernisme |trans-title=Route of Modernism |website=rutadelmodernisme.com |publisher=Institut Municipal del Paisatge Urbà i la Qualitat de Vida (IMPUiQV), Ajuntament de Barcelona |date=2011-10-23 |access-date=2011-11-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061031184601/http://www.rutadelmodernisme.com/default.aspx?idioma=en&contenido=body_rutamodernisme_04en.htm |archive-date=2006-10-31}}</ref>

===Construction process===
[[File:Casa Milà obras.jpg|thumb|left|200px|La Casa Milà being built]]
In 1905, Milà and Segimón married and on June 9, Roser Segimón bought a house with garden which occupied an area of 1,835 square meters, located on Paseo de Gracia, 92. In September, they commissioned Gaudí for building them a new house with the idea of living in the main floor and renting out the rest of the apartments. On February 2, 1906, the project was presented to the Barcelona City Council and the works began, demolishing the pre-existing building instead of reforming it, as in the case of the [[Casa Batlló]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.lapedrera.com/en/la-pedrera/chronology|title=Chronology of La Pedrera (A place of memory)}}</ref>

The building was completed in December 1910 and the owner asked Gaudí to make a certificate to inhabit the main floor, which the City Council authorized in October 1911, and the couple moved in. On October 31, 1912, Gaudí issued the certificate stating that, in accordance with his plans and his direction, the work had been completed and the whole house was ready to be rented.<ref name=":0" />

=== Critics and controversies ===
The building did not respect any rules of conventional style, for which Gaudí received much criticism. To begin with, the name "La Pedrera" is in fact a nickname assigned by the citizens who disapproved of its unusualness.<ref>{{Cite book|title=La Pedrera. Architecture and History|last=Huertas Claveria|first=Josep Maria|publisher=Caixa Catalunya|year=1999|location=Spain}}{{page?|date=May 2024}}</ref> The unique structure of the building and the relationship between the building's architect and Pere Milà became the object of ridicule for the people of Barcelona and many humorous publications of the time.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://pedrerainedita.lapedrera.com/en/aportacions/satire|title=Satire (La Pedrera's untold stories)}}</ref>

==== Catholic symbols ====
[[File:Proyecto Virgen Milà.jpg|thumb|180px|A fragment from first drafts of the architectural plans from 1906, showing the sculptures mounted on the upper facade.]]
Gaudí, a Catholic and a devotee of the [[Virgin Mary]], planned for the Casa Milà to be a spiritual symbol.<ref name = "google224">{{cite book| author = Stephen Sennott| title = Encyclopedia of 20th-century architecture: A–F| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=opvy1zGI2EcC&pg=PA224| year = 2004| publisher = Fitzroy Dearborn| isbn = 978-1-57958-433-7| page = 224 }}</ref> Overt religious elements include an excerpt from the [[Rosary]] on the cornice and planned statues of Mary, specifically [[Our Lady of the Rosary]], and two [[archangels]], [[St. Michael]] and [[Gabriel|St. Gabriel]].<ref name="google224"/><ref name="gaudiclub1906">[http://www.gaudiclub.com/ingles/i_vida/pedrera.html La Pedrera (Casa Milà, 1906–1910)] Gaudiclub.com</ref>

However, the Casa Milà was not built entirely to Gaudí's specifications. The local government ordered the demolition of elements that exceeded the height standard for the city, and fined the Milàs for many infractions of [[building code]]s.<ref>''Gaudí: A Biography''; Gijs van Hensbergen; Harper Collins; pp. 214–216 {{ISBN?}}</ref> After [[Tragic Week (Catalonia)|Semana Trágica]], an outbreak of [[anticlericalism]] in the city, Milà prudently decided to forgo the religious statues.<ref name="google224"/> Gaudí contemplated abandoning the project but a priest persuaded him to continue.<ref name="gaudiclub1906"/>

=== Change of ownership ===
[[File:Interior Casa Milà.jpg|thumb|left|Interior of Casa Milà in 1910]]
In 1940, Milà died. Segimon sold the property in 1946 for 18 million pesetas to Josep Ballvé i Pellisé, known for his department stores on {{Interlanguage link|Ronda de Sant Antoni|ca}}, in partnership with the family of Pío Rubert Laporta. The Compañía Inmobiliaria Provenza, SA (CIPSA) was founded to administer the building.<ref name=huertas>Huertas Claveria,...</ref> Roser Segimon continued to live on the main floor until her death in 1964.<ref name=cronologia>[https://web.archive.org/web/20190114162957/http://www.lapedrera.com/en/la-pedrera/chronology Cronologia de l'edifici a La Pedrera Educació]</ref>

[[File:Casa Milà (1914).jpg|thumb|Casa Milà in 1914]]
The new owners divided the first floor facing {{Interlanguage link|Carrer de Provença|ca}} into five apartments instead of the original two. In 1953, they commissioned {{Interlanguage link|Francisco Juan Barba Corsini|es}} to convert 13 rubbish-filled attic laundry rooms to street-facing apartments, leaving a communal hallway on the side facing the courtyards. Some of these two or three room apartments had a [[loft]] and were designed and furnished in a typical early 1950s style using brick, ceramic and wood. Items of furniture, such as the {{Interlanguage link|Pedrera chair|ca|3=Cadira Pedrera}}, were reminiscent of [[Eero Saarinen]]'s work.<ref name=corsini>[http://www.raco.cat/index.php/CuadernosArquitectura/article/view/108448/170570 Barba Corsini, F.J. ''Apartamentos en el desván de la Pedrera''.] Cuadernos de Arquitectura Núm. 22. Any: 1955</ref>

The insurance company Northern took over the main floor in 1966. By then, Casa Milà had housed a [[bingo hall]], an academy and the offices of Cementos Molins and Inoxcrom among others.<ref Name=huertas/> Maintenance costs were high and the owners had allowed the building to become dilapidated, causing stones to loosen in 1971. Josep Anton Comas made some emergency repairs, especially to the paintings in the courtyards, while respecting the original design.<ref name="patrimoni">
Hernàndez-Cros, Josep Emili  (ed.). ''Catàleg del Patrimoni Arquitectònic Històrico-Artístic de la Ciutat de Barcelòna'', Barcelona, Ajuntament de Barcelona, 1987 {{ISBN?}}</ref>

=== Restoration ===
[[File:Pedrera P1290401.JPG|thumb|left|After being re-painted a dreary brown, the building's colors were restored in the 1980s]]
Gaudí's work was designated a historic and artistic [[monument]] on July 24, 1969. Casa Milà was in poor condition in the early 1980s. It had been painted a dreary brown and many of its interior color schemes had been abandoned or allowed to deteriorate, but it has been restored since including restoring many of the original colors.<ref name="Restoration">{{cite book |last1=Asarta Ferraz |first1=Francisco Javier |title=La Pedrera : Gaudi and his work |publisher=Fundacio Caixa de Catalunya |location=Barcelona |isbn=978-84-89860-06-3 |pages=112–134 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/lapedreragaudihi0000unse/page/134/mode/2up |chapter=Restoration of la Pedrera|year=1998 }}</ref>

In 1984, the building became part of a [[World Heritage Site]] encompassing some of Gaudí's works. The Barcelonan city council tried to rent the main floor as an office for the [[1992 Summer Olympics|1992 Olympic]] bid. Finally, the day before [[Christmas]] 1986, [[Caixa Catalunya]] bought La Pedrera for 900 million pesetas.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Minder |first1=Raphael |title=What's It Like to Live in Barcelona's Most Famous Gaudí Home? A Bit Inconvenient  |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/29/world/europe/barcelona-gaudi-la-pedrera-casa-mila.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/29/world/europe/barcelona-gaudi-la-pedrera-casa-mila.html |archive-date=2022-01-01 |url-access=limited |access-date=31 December 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=29 June 2019}}{{cbignore}}</ref> On February 19, 1987, urgently needed work began on the restoration and cleaning of the façade. The work was done by the architects Joseph Emilio Hernández-Cros and Rafael Vila.<ref name="Restoration"/> The renovated main floor opened in 1990 as part of the [[Cultural Olympiad]] of Barcelona. The floor became an exhibition room with an example of [[modernism]] in the [[Eixample]].<ref name=huertas/>