This is the first project of any size actually built by Gaudi as an architect. A detached housefor the family of the ceramics manufacturer Vicens. Extremely simple in terms of construction, it is characterised by its useof stone side by side with brick and tiles on the facade. This interior, which boastsome quite exceptional finishes, as well as a decorative style with evident moorish influences, are at their most impressive in the smoking room. The ground floor, which is stepped up from the entrance, containstherooms for daytime use: a dining room, with an enclosed galler, a smoking room and a lounge, as well as the staircase leading up to the dormitories on the upper floor. Above this is a top floor with the character of an attic, while the half-basement originally accomodated the service rooms. On this floor and the smoking room the ceilings are parabolic vaults spanning the supporting walls, a constructive device which is found time and again throughout Gaudi's work
Nowadays the house is without many of the features which originally enriched its immediate enviroment. The garden and a fountain with a parabolic arch no longer exist: nothing remains of the garden but a strip of ground to protect the house from the surrounding buildings.
The wrought iron fence, however, which separates the house from the street, is outstanding: completely naturalistic in character, reproducing the formal device of the palm leaf. In 1925-1926, under the direction of the architect Serra Martinez the part corresponding to the north and east facades was extended, in keeping with the original stylistic criteria.
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