In the history of building, Josep Domènech i Estapà is one of the names that keeps returning.
The record lists Josep Domènech i Estapà as Catalan architect (1858-1917).
Josep Domènech i Estapà was born at Tarragona in 1858. His recorded nationality is Spain.
Industrialisation gave architecture iron, glass and the lift, and with them the problems of the railway station, the factory and the tall city block.
He is recorded as architect and university teacher.
His work is associated with catalan modernism.
Among his best-known works are Casa Domènech i Estapà, Model Prison of Barcelona and Fabra Observatory. An architect is judged by how a building is used a century after the drawings.
That the work was built in Spain shaped it: climate, materials, planning law and who holds the budget all decide what can actually be built.
Josep Domènech i Estapà died in 1917, aged 59. The buildings remain, still in use by people who never knew the name - which is the particular afterlife architecture offers.
Achievements
- Notable work: Casa Domènech i Estapà
- Notable work: Model Prison of Barcelona
- Notable work: Fabra Observatory
- Notable work: Palau Montaner
- Movement: Catalan modernism
