Barcelona’s Eixample neighborhood, an extension of the city planned by engineer Ildefons Cerdà and begun in 1860, is undoubtedly one of the most unique urban spaces in the world.

The city’s personality shows in the Eixample’s inimitable layout and in the many developments, small in dimension, but great in quality, that have filled in its spaces. This footprint is not spread about uniformly, but is instead concentrated within a relatively small sector, mostly around el Passeig de Gràcia. 

This privileged part of the Eixample, known as the Quadrat d’Or (the Golden Block), is framed by Carrer Aribau and Passeig de Sant Joan, la Ronda de Sant Pere, la Ronda de Sant Pau, the University, and Avenida Diagonal. The Quadrat d’Or’s status as Barcelona’s bourgeois headquarters was sealed during the last decade of the 19th Century and the first decade of the 20th. Since this period coincided with the emergence and spread of Modernism, the Quadrat d’Or naturally became the center of Art Nouveau for Barcelona (though, to be sure, many modernist architectural sites can be also found in other parts of the city).

The noteworthy streets of the Quadrat d’Or are home to an immense quantity of architectural gems, the fruit of Barcelona’s bourgeois residents’ movement from the Ciutat Vella (Downtown) to the central Eixample at the turn of the century. The Quadrat d’Or is an authentic open-air museum, full of buildings and residences of tremendous architectonic interest. In the next few pages we single out some of Modernist Barcelona’s noteworthy and not-to-be-missed structures.

	Click on the city area map to see the Barcelona Art Nouveau Route and Núñez i Navarro Hotels:
					Mountain Area	Eixample & Ciutat Vella