Pere Falqués i Urpí (1849-1916) is widely recognized for his work as municipal architect of Barcelona between 1890 and 1916. However, his previous professional connection with our city is not as well known, where he worked as a consulting architect from 1878 to 1889. During this time he carried out important urban planning works, such as the opening of Carrer del Temple, various interventions in the Casa de la Vila, the construction of the first building of the Arnús Asylum and the design of the first covered market in Badalona: the Mercat Maignon.
Joan Molet Petit, PhD in Art History and full professor at the University of Barcelona, author of the recently published book Pere Falqués, l’arquitecte municipal de la Barcelona modernista, will talk to us about this period of Falqués’s career in Badalona as well as other highlights of his professional career: the competitions he won in Barcelona, his participation in the Universal Exhibition of 1888 and also the works he carried out as municipal architect of Barcelona from 1889 (the electric lighting of Passeig de Gràcia, the metro tunnels under Via Laietana, markets, museums, monuments, schools and even a frustrated royal palace). He will also refer to the large private commissions he received, such as the house of Baron Bonet or the Catalan Electricity Plant.
In short, a magnificent opportunity to discover a little-known architect who developed his own style, sumptuous and monumental, and who left his mark on Catalan architecture at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
