Casa Botines, Leon

One of the earliest works of the great Antoni Gaudi was the palace, built in 1890 by order of the textile industrialist Eusebi Güell i Bacigalupi. Then Gaudi was engaged in the construction of the bishop's palace in the city of Astroga, Leon province. Güell had partners in Leon, the trading house of Simón Fernández y Mariano Andrés, and he advised Gaudi to offer them his services. Merchants from León accepted the presentation, and thus this building became one of Gaudi's three creations outside of Catalonia.

The project took into account all the wishes of customers: a large warehouse was located in the basement of the building, the lower floor was reserved for a store, the main floor was occupied by two luxury apartments of the owners, and smaller apartments for rent were located on the upper two floors. In 1890, a plot of land was purchased, Gaudi finished work on the project in December 1891, and construction began on January 4 of the following year.

The city community met the construction of the house without enthusiasm - not only was the acquisition of land associated with a long legal battle, the public believed that the unusual facade, combining Neo-Gothic and Art Nouveau, would spoil the existing architectural ensemble of Marcelo Square.

In addition, the use of local labor that did not have the necessary qualifications caused a lot of speculation, and there was also engineering criticism of the project. All these claims were carefully collected by the great architect, and eventually hung out for everyone to see in the lobby of the building after its opening.

Construction was completed in November 1892. A sculpture of Saint George slaying a dragon appeared on the facade a year later. The customers named the house Casa Botines after the founder of their business, Joan Homs i Botinàs, but the residents of Leon preferred to call the house Casa Fernandes-Anders.

In 1931, the house was bought by the Caja Leon Bank, having undergone some reconstruction, but in 1953 it was partially restored to its original appearance, and in 1969 it was included in the list of objects of cultural interest in Spain (BIC). At the end of the 20th century, the bank became part of Caja España, in 1994-1998 the house was completely restored. After the merger of Caja España and Caja Duero, in 2016 the building was transferred to the museum of the Fondazione España-Duero, where you can see a collection of Art Nouveau works, including paintings by Dom, Sorolla, Mazzaro, Tapi and others.

In front of the Casa Botines facade, you can sit on a bench next to the bronze author of this wonderful house and slowly admire his creation.