PALAU GUELL, Barcelona
The Palau Guell is a town mansion (translated literally a "palace") in Barcelona Hotels, Spain designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi for the Catalan industrial tycoon Eusebio de Guell.
It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The home is centered on a main room for entertaining high society guests. Guests entered the home in horse drawn carriages through the front iron gates, which featured a parabolic arch and intricate patterns of forged iron-work resembling seaweed and in some parts a horsewhip.
Animals could be taken down a ramp and kept in the livery stable in the basement where the servants resided, while the guests went up the stairs to the receiving room.
The ornate walls and ceilings of the receiving room disguised small viewing windows high on the walls where the owners of the home could view their guests from the upper floor and get a 'sneak peak' before greeting them, in case they needed to adjust their attire accordingly.
The main party room has a high ceiling with small holes near the top where lanterns were hung at night from the outside to give the appearance of a starlit sky.
At the time of writing (2005), Palau Guell is closed to the public due to renovations; some of the stone used in the original construction was weak and has cracked over the years causing structural problems within the building.
The building is expected to re-open to visitors around October 2006.
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