The architecture that was built in Barcelona in Sagnier’s times has often been accused of being concerned only with facades. Clearly, then as now, it was the architect’s responsibility to distribute the floor-plan to suit the conditions of the site, decide on the systems of access and ventilation and calculate and supervise the constructional process, as well as, frequently, to decorate the interiors, at least in the major rooms. But it is true that a large proportion of inventiveness went into the facade, since the interior layouts of apartments in the Eixample district were fairly standardised. The interest of architects and owners in decoration increased particularly from 1897 onwards, when new municipal bylaws were approved that allowed facades to be embellished with projecting volumes and ornamental features above the roof-line.

In buildings such as the Camil Mulleras house, any passer-by would become aware of the financial status of an owner who had thought nothing of using the most expensive possible material, natural stone, to build a stylish, richly-carved facade. In many such works, such as the one we are discussing here, Sagnier worked in collaboration with the sculptor Alfons Juyol. There is a family resemblance between his apartment houses from the years 1900 to 1907 due to their use of a shared formal repertoire: the coarse treatment of natural stone, openings with trefoil arches and an abundance of naturalistic ornament on surfaces. In this particular house we find a resource which Sagnier often liked to employ and which we find in examples of his work throughout his career: a little frieze running below the balcony slabs, often framed between two brackets.

The vestibule makes the most of the modestly-proportioned light well to accommodate, in an ingenious way, the private staircase leading to the owners’ apartment and a lesser staircase leading to the rental apartments on the upper floors.