The Casa Tosquella will preserve its modernist jewels to revive as a senior citizens' center

Darkness and the smell of confinement and memories flood the once lavish Casa Tosquella. Colorful and dreamlike stained-glass windows alter the chromatic palette that goes back and forth from gray to a bottle green, clouded by dust and the passage of time. The little light that filters through the glass provides the only touch of color to the scene, transporting the few illuminated corners to a past of splendor that was left behind; it was left behind, but it is determined to return.

The doors and shutters have reopened in the emblematic modernist estate of Putxet not by whim, but for a purpose: to rescue the early 20th-century property from abandonment by converting it into a community center for the elderly. The ruinous state of its interior and its wild garden already anticipate that it will not be an easy or quick task. And this is also anticipated to The New Barcelona Post by the architects responsible for its rehabilitation, from the Clara de Solà-Morales and Metrònom Arquitectura studios: the rehabilitation is progressing without a timeline and without a closed budget, awaiting to verify the real state of the property, cataloged as a Cultural Asset of National Interest (BCIN).

There is no timeline or budget, but there is a project, which won the competition called by the City Council after it bought the property in 2021 for about 1.2 million euros. And the project has not been without controversy, due to the architects' plan to build a new large access by Mitre that will partially hide this modernist jewel from the ring road. But the architects defend their project: this new volume has been conceived precisely to safeguard Casa Tosquella and the modernist treasure it houses. And it is that the new access will accommodate all those essential facilities for the equipment but incompatible with the preservation of the original structure and its ornamentations, from its intricate moldings to its undulating wrought iron railings. In this way, the elevators, adapted bathrooms, technical installations, and the access staircase will be located in this new structure. Thus, the construction of the new access actually aims to protect the heritage of Casa Tosquella, including its decorations, facades, and exteriors, according to the team of architects: "The wall is in favor of the building," defends Clara de Solà-Morales.

The project's great unknown is the content of a large inaccessible underground central room, which will be decisive for the works

"The expansion in Mitre is necessary to respect the house as much as possible while updating it so that its domestic character becomes that of a public facility," defends Albert Casas Álvarez, founding partner of Metrònom Arquitectura. In fact, Solà-Morales places the triple challenge that he believes Casa Tosquella represents in this area: "Being able to recover the house without losing its DNA; convert it into a public facility when it was conceived as a dwelling, and respond to a reality focused on the large Mitre when the house was facing the small Putxet. These are two different scales that converge in a heritage building."

Precisely so that Casa Tosquella begins to look towards Mitre and stops turning its back on it, the project plans to create "a small square as an access preamble" to the future facility. And it will not be the only public space gained with the project, as it is approached with the will that the historic modernist gardens be open to the public. To gain this environment, the special planning that will govern the project will include the acquisition of the two adjoining properties, including the gardening center that now gives color to Mitre, according to consulted municipal sources.

For now without budget or calendar, the architects anticipate that the project "will not be quick"

And in a project with many unknowns, an element emerges that adds uncertainty and makes the calculation of forecasts difficult: a large inaccessible underground central room that no one knows what it houses, and that will be decisive for the progress of the project. The first soundings suggest that it contains sand, but it is unknown for now how much: "It's the hot potato of the project," according to Solà-Morales.

The room responsible for this decisive unknown is located in the basement. In the future community center, this floor will house a multipurpose space and gym, in rooms that were the scene of parties of Barcelona's high society in the early 20th century. Dense layers of dust and cobwebs covering the ceiling now obscure any evocation of that past, which filters into the present through old objects and accessories forgotten for years, such as several hats that are still waiting for a last dance that will not come.

An impracticable interior staircase connects the basement with the main floor, with rooms that will become workshops and staff rooms, respecting the original measurements and proportions. The rooms are distributed on either side of a central corridor crowned by the main door that connects to the garden.

The furniture, lamps, a children's wallpaper and a solitary bookshelf full of forgotten books interpret an inaudible melancholic melody, in an atmosphere typical of Carlos Ruiz Zafón's darkest chapters. The spectral darkness that now reigns in the house will give way to the light stained by the stained glass windows of what will be the future community center, which will reveal the now clouded splendor of the modernist moldings, screen prints, reliefs and pavements that adorn the jewel that Casa Tosquella represents, awaiting its resurgence.