Hotel Legends

Some say it was destiny. Others claimed it was something more powerful. Whatever the influence was, it gave rise to the construction of one of Barcelona’s loveliest buildings:  the Climent Arola house.

Francisco de P. Villar i Carmona was a young architect when he was charged with designing what was destined to become the city’s most imposing temple: the Church of the Holy Family. He shut himself in for three years while he devoted his heart and soul to the project. He spent his days and nights conceiving that church, but no one, not even his closest collaborators, got the slightest glimpse of the details of the building. They say that he drew his inspiration from the cathedrals of the Middle Ages, with superhuman dimensions and myriad details from that historical period. However, he only managed to build the crypt. One of his assistants betrayed him. It is suspected—although it has never been proven—that it was the then unknown architect Antoni Gaudí who stole most of the drawings and revealed their secrets, which Villar i Carmona had jealously kept in each of his sketches*. When they saw the design, the patrons of the temple prohibited its construction; they found the conception too revolutionary. However, as history has shown us, the architect who took over the project was by no means less revolutionary.