An American in Barcelona

Travel Guide

Barcelona

The story of Electricity in Barcelona

It was from the top of Tibidabo – one sunny morning in the month of July 1911 – that the American engineer Frederick Stark Pearson could contemplate for the first time the entire extension of he  city of Barcelona. Back then the 1,680 foot high mountain looked quite different from today, since neither the temple nor the communications town – two characteristic elements of the city’s current skyline – had yet been built. To be precise, the construction of the church began in 1902, but mostly due to problems caused by the unstable slate soil, the construction of the tower took so long that by 1991 all they had to show for it was the crypt. the Communications tower – the other eye catching landmark that now reigns over the mountain with its height of 919 feet – came much later. Its construction began in 1990 as a project put forth yb the British architect Norman Foster, and it went into operation in 1992 – the same year Barcelona held the Olympic Games, which  was a high point for the city’s self-esteem.

The City Hall

“The year 1854 is the key to understanding Barcelona today. It was on that year that the city hall – seduced by the challenges brought on by modernity and progress – decided to break down the walls that closed in the city in order to allow Barcelona to welcome future changes without obstacles. From then on, the city extended itself through the surrounding fields  – following the plan of the rational spider web designed by Iidefons Cerd – and in the process swallowed up historical villages such as Gracia and Sarria, which today, with their  narrow streets and low houses, still seem to want to challenge Eixample district’s grid network of grids”

Hotel Colon

With a view of Placa Catalyuna – Dr Pearson held a long conversation with the Catalan Engineer Carlos Montanes. “Investigation in a city like Barcelona is without a doubt investing in the future”