THE MODERN ARCHITECTURE OF CADAQUÉS
Photography by Christina Walin, Heidi von Scaewenm F. Català Roca, Giorgio Casali, O. Maspons, Pierre Berdoy, Retoria M/Sekiya
Two summers ago, returning from a family event in the area, my girlfriend and I ended up in Cadaqués. It was a spectacular Spring day, we’d eaten and drank well, we were euphoric. By pure coincidence, sitting in Portlligat in front of the house of Salvador Dalí, we came across a cottage with a for rent sign. The excitement of the moment and a sensation that “fate was calling” pushed us to call and just like that we had a house for the summer. It was a house with a convoluted distribution, however, as the owner insisted, with high architectural qualities since being remodeled by famous architect Bombelli. By Bombelli of course, my head was ringing. I wasn’t too familiar with his work, but I knew what he had done in Cadaqués with Peter Harnden.
Summer arrived and we were off to enjoy Cadaqués, but as it happens my girlfriend landed a really important job that required her to stay in Barcelona to work. Since the house was paid for, I decided to go it alone. I’d never spent time in Cadaqués and although I knew a few people, rather than be a burden, I dedicated myself to reading, going to the beach and cooking alone. The first few days went by fast, but once installed in a routine, the days began to draw out. It’s curious how before covid we got bored so quickly, and how strange it was to me to be isolated in that moment, when only a few months later, we’d all be in the same state and for much much longer.
In either case, since I was already there, an architect friend made me visit a house by Coderch. Then another by Correa. And later I’d discover another…. it began to seem strange the amount of work and style—a style widely copied in Cadaqués, a phenomena replicated through much of Spain—that was very familiar to me. It also surprised me that there was no guide or book. And on one of the rare nights that I got together with a friend, he suggested that we do it ourselves. As I had time, and plenty of it, I decided to make it my summer activity.
This architecture initially arises, as in many others in México, Brazil and Spain, from a ménage of rationalism with certain vernacular architectures. The curious thing about Cadaqués is that all of this occurs in an extremely limited geographic setting—Cadaqués is a town not only small in size but also squeezed into a bay. There were also a certain amount of sociological limitations, in the sense that there were primarily two types of people in Cadaqués. The locals and the vacationers. The latter, in absolute authority, were mostly of a certain cultural level and open mindedness. These two limitations played in favor of the architecture. The second, because the group of architects and developers who designed the projects were from the same scene, they exchanged ideas and collaborated. Not only were they on the same page, but the exchange of information was fluid. And the first, because almost everything that was made in that period was constructed by the same people, referring to builders, carpenters, masons, etc. So whenever an outsider came to build, the ideas of Mr. Coderch or those of Mr. Correa would show up in the work of vernacular architecture.
This ended up defining a style, beyond these works, that became ubiquitous at the time. The white walls, the simple mediterranean materials, the custom build-ins, designs of Miguel Milà, an architecture, now second and third hand from what those of my generation grew up with, but now almost 50 years later, continue to be valid in the language of many current architects.
The Modern Architecture of Cadaqués 1955-71, book edited by Nacho Alegre with an introduction by Oscar Tuskets, is now available through Apartamento Publishing, SL.
Cover image. Illustration by Senillosa.
Images 1 and 5. The living room at Casa Bombelli.
Image 2. The Bordeaux Groult house was constructed for an important French politician who, not long after his wife passed, sold the home to Captain Moore, Dalí’s secretary. Seen here, among many other things, are bundles of dried immortelle flower, commonly found in Cadaqués.
Image 3. The home of Mary Callery, also designed by Harnden and Bombelli.
Images 4 and 6. The home of George Staempfli was the first to be built in Cadaqués, along with that of Harden and Bombelli. Staempfli was an important collector and gallerist from New York who represented Salvador Dalí, pictured here in the home with Marcel Duchamp.
Image 7. Here’s the sheet metal chimney at Villa Gloria. The sheet metal chimney was an invention imported by Coderch to Spain after having seen it in Peter Harnden’s Paris studio, the style quickly became popular.
Image 8. A residential view of the El Colomer apartments by Oscar Tusquets and Lluís Clotet.
