Eixample, Barcelona, Spain

It’s said that modern Barcelona, Spain, emerged with the district of Eixample.

The area, just outside the city’s historic core, is a unique and distinct streetscape of Catalan Modernist architecture, a movement marked by richly ornamented facades and flowing, asymmetrical shapes.

Eixample is divided into two main sections---Eixample Esquerra, (left) and Eixample Dreta (right)--and six neighborhoods. Beyond its trademark architecture, Eixample is the destination for high end fashion, particularly along the boulevard of Passeig de Gracia, Barcelona’s answer to the Champs-Élysées. Eixample also offers top dining including Michelin-starred restaurants and some of the city’s most in-demand housing.

The quarter is a dramatic contrast to Barcelona’s medieval old town. Eixample developed in the mid-1800s out of the need to accommodate a population surge caused by industrialization. Eixample, which translates to extension, was the vision of urban planner Ildefons Cerdà. Unlike the labyrinth streets of old town, Cerdà designed the district in a grid-like pattern with octagonal blocks to allow for more light and airflow. It was the first such design of its kind in Europe.

If Cerdà was responsible for the urban plan, modernist masters like Josep Puig I Cadafalch, Lluis Domènech i Montaner and, most notably, Antoni Gaudí were responsible for Eixample’s wondrous and influential architecture. Gaudí’s Casa Batiló and Casa Milà were originally built as private residences. The most iconic of Gaudí’s creations is La Sagrada Familília Basilica, which was begun in 1882 and is still unfinished. Like Gaudí’s other Eixample structures, Sagrada Familia is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Wealthy families once commissioned celebrated architects like Gaudí to design their homes in Eixample. The district remains one of Barcelona’s most coveted, both for those from the greater Catalonia region and expats. With little space for new developments, most properties date back decades, some more than a century. Original facades are generally retained while the units are refurbished and modernized.