Colònia Güell was first set up in 1890
on the initiative of Eusebi Güell, a businessman,
at his Can Soler de la Torre estate, in the municipality
of Santa Coloma de Cervelló, where he moved his
textile busines from Sants, now part of Barcelona.
Social conflicts in Barcelona at that time led him to
set up the new factory equipped with the latest technology-
outside the city on a model industrial estate, with the
workers’ houses alongside the factory, forming an
urban complex with its own character, and social and economic
life, supervised by the company.
Unlike the majority of industrial estate owners in Catalonia,
Eusebi Güell improved social conditions for is workers
and sponsored cultural activities. He provided cultural
and religious amenities at the Colònia Güell,
which were built in the current Modernista style by various
architects whomhe commissioned, notably Antoni Gaudí,
who was responsible for the church.
The talent of master builders is also displayed on many
buildings, which is particularly evident in the variety
of cornices and details on the facades.
Industrial colonies were conceived as socio-economic organisations
that had industrial production as their primary purpose.
The factory occupied the greater part of the time of each
colony’s men and women and for them the factory meant
the assurance of receiving a regular wage in a period marked
by economic instability.
Even so, with the passing of time the trade union movements
and worker demands came to reach the Colònia Güell.
At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, the
factory was collectivised and placed under the management
of its workers. At the end of the war in 1939, it was returned
to the Güell family, who sold it to the Bertrand i
Serra family in 1945.
After that the Colony carried on with its industrial production
and the urban core maintained its differentiated personality
with respect to Santa Coloma de Cervelló, where
the population began to grow until it finally came to exceed
that of the Colònia Güell in the 1960s.
The Colony was preserved from the uncontrolled urban growth
of the 1960s and 70s since it remained as an almost compact
property with industrial production as its primary purpose.
With the textile industry crisis as a backdrop, the factory
closed down in 1973. Its closure had a large social impact
on the Colony. The property began to be sold off in the
following years: the factory was sold in sections to diverse
companies, the houses to their inhabitants, and the facilities
and land in the surrounding area to public institutions.
The whole Colònia Güell was declared a Property
of Cultural Interest and Historical Ensemble in 1990, establishing
the protection of the foremost buildings and of the general
At the turn of the 21st century, the rehabilitation work
began on the factory, the church, the old consumption cooperative,
and the Plaça de Joan Güell, and improvement
works began on the pinewoods in the surroundings and on
the Gaudí path. In the year 2002 (International
Gaudí Year), the new visitors’ parking area
was built and an organisation of the visits service was
implemented for the ensemble of the Colony.