Hospital Sant Pau Recinte Modernista

Avinguda Gaudí, lined with cafés, and streetlamps by Pere Falqués, leads from the Sagrada Família to a neighbourhood known as Camp de l’Arpa, or ‘Field of the Dolmen’, recalling a long-lost megalith. At the end stands another, completed and almost as gargantuan, Modernista work: Lluís Domènech i Montaner’s Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau (1902–30), covering nine whole blocks of the Eixample.

It has been placed on UNESCO’s list of World Heritage sites – and as hospitals go, it was certainly a one-off. The genesis for this building came from banker Pau Gil i Serra, who left four million pesetas for a hospital dedicated to his patron Saint Paul. The design competition was won by Domènech i Estapà – but the doctors on the board of trustees vetoed his concept because of hygiene considerations, and in 1901 Domènech i Montaner landed the job.