| Casas Icónicas en España! | Welcome to another country special in our summer series designed to help you make the most of a week(end) away. If you missed our previous instalments on Germany, The Netherlands and France, you can find them on our homepage. Let's continue our journey to Spain, where eight modern house museums are ready to welcome you! Explore Barcelona, a treasure trove of 20th-century masterpieces, or take a trip to the Basque Country and make some fascinating discoveries. We’ve arranged the houses here chronologically, from youngest to oldest. Even if you decide to have a staycation this summer, you can still travel the houses from home. Enjoy!
Note: Plan your visit(s) well in advance, as house museums can have irregular visiting times and coronavirus guidelines often require online reservation.
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| | Museo Chillida Leku, Eduardo Chillida, Hernani, 2000 | Founded by sculptor Eduardo Chillida (1924-2002), Chillida Leku is home to the most comprehensive collection of his works. Located near San Sebastián, it comprises a sculpture park and exhibition space inside a converted 16th-century Basque country house. In Chillida Leku, the artist created a place where future generations could experience his work as he intended.
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| | Can Lis, Jørn Utzon, Mallorca, 1971 | After Jørn Utzon left the Sydney Opera project in 1966, he settled on Majorca, first buying land in the mountains to the south-east of the island, where Can Feliz, Utzon’s other house, was eventually built in 1994. But at first, the local authorities would not permit him to build on the mountainside. Instead, Utzon bought land near Porto Petro, on a steep cliff facing the sea, where he built Can Lis.
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| | Casa Broner, Erwin Broner, Ibiza, 1960 | German architect and painter Erwin Broner built this house in 1960. Spectacularly located on a clifftop in Sa Penya, it has two floors with a studio, terrace, and garden. Broner also designed the furniture, which is exhibited in the house, together with his paintings, drawings and personal items. Casa Broner beautifully combines the native architectural tradition of Ibiza with the style of the Bauhaus.
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| | La Ricarda, Antonio Bonet Castellana, El Prat de Llobregat, 1949-63 | Near Barcelona, the Gomis House (better known as La Ricarda) is a modular structure spreading over the landscape in harmony with nature. It features a graceful vaulted roof that seems to float among the pine trees. The house still has all its original furnishings and is still owned by the Gomis family, although it is now threatened by the expansion of the nearby airport.
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| | Casa Bloc Apartment Museum, Josep Lluís Sert, Josep Torres Clavé, Barcelona, 1932-1939 | An innovative answer to the call for affordable housing, Casa Bloc is a long, rectilinear S-shaped building with two partially open courtyards. The 207 housing units it contains combine standardisation and flexibility: Casa Bloc was intended as a new housing prototype rather than a one-off. One of the apartments has been meticulously restored to its original condition.
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| | Casa Masó, Rafael Masó, Girona, 1919 | Casa Masó, the birthplace of architect Rafael Masó (1880-1935), is the only one of the famous houses along the river in Girona’s old city that is open to the public as a house museum. The house, renovated by the architect between 1910 and 1918, was also a meeting place for artists, literary and political figures associated with Noucentisme, an arts movement that defined Catalan culture and politics during the 1910s and 1920s.
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| | Casa Milà / La Pedrera, Antoni Gaudí i Cornet, Barcelona, 1912 | Antoni Gaudí designed Casa Milà at the height of his career. His last secular work, it was highly innovative in everything from spatial distribution to construction methods. It soon became known as La Pedrera (the stone quarry) because of the resemblance of its façade to an open quarry. In 1984, Unesco inscribed the building in its World Heritage List.
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| | El Capricho de Gaudí, Antoni Gaudí i Cornet, Comillas, 1883-1885 | An early work, El Capricho is one of the few buildings designed by Gaudí outside Catalonia. Located in Comillas on the northern Spanish coastline, El Capricho is colourfully creative, inspired by nature and full of symbolism. Many of the materials, styles and concepts developed here were later used for Barcelona’s Park Güell, La Pedrera, Casa Batlló and the Sagrada Família.
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| | ICONIC DREAMS - SLEEP IN AN ICONIC HOUSE! | Always wanted to sleep in a museum? Now's your chance! Iconic Houses' members include museum homes that you can rent for a holiday. Imagine having one all to yourself, and getting to know it at your own pace. These houses have wonderful stories to tell. During a stay in one, you'll experience it almost exactly as the original residents did. Most were designed as weekend or holiday homes, meaning that their architects could focus on fun.
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| | VACANCES EN FRANCE | Continue your journey to France, where 13 modern house museum are ready to welcome you! How about visiting a pure Alvar Aalto in mint condition, near Paris? And of course you'll find Le Corbusier's Unesco-listed Villa Savoye among our member houses, along with the less famous, self-built retreat of Jean Prouvé in Nancy.
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| | GERMAN GREATS | Belgian architect Henry van de Velde has three houses to his name out of the 11 superb member houses in Germany. Taut’s Home in Hufeisensiedlung is a Unesco World Heritage monument where you can spend the night. Germany’s hidden gem is Haus Schminke in Löbau, where you can also stay. Haus Auerbach in Jena is a private house that’s open for visits, while in Berlin Georg Kolbe’s house is a great example of the artist’s home and studio.
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| | DUTCH DELIGHTS | From the Amsterdam School to Postmodernism, our Dutch members number 20 wonderful homes by Rietveld, J.J.P. Oud, Brinkman & Van der Vlugt, and many more. Several are examples of social housing. The Rietveld Schröder House is a Unesco World Heritage monument, or spend the night in the Dijkstra House. The hidden gem is the private Van Schijndel House, open for visits by appointment, while the Wall House #2 is a great example of a conceptual home.
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| | ICON FOR SALE | Villa Henny is an icon of 20th-century Dutch architecture, and 100 years after it was built, the concrete design is still as solid as a rock. When the current owners saw the ‘For Sale’ sign in the garden in 1979, they were sold, and so was the house! After raising their children here and spending 40 happy years in this special place, they are putting the house up for sale - so a new owner will get the chance to live in this architectural gem!
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| | HELP US GROW | We want to reach 10K followers on Instagram! Please follow us and tag a friend. Iconic Houses is still bringing iconic inspiration on the channels you know and love, so be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to our YouTube channel for even more peeks behind the scenes.
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| | DONATE | The Iconic Houses Foundation, like many small businesses and non-profits, is in a precarious position due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Please donate to help us stabilize operations and recover from this crisis.
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