7.) The "Casas Barates": Spain's social housing

Inauguration of "Cases Barates" in 1933

7.) Cases barates

After having crossed the park in Nou Barris, we arrive at an open space where we find one example of the phenomenon of the "cases barates" (cheap houses). The ones we are looking at are now known as Can Peguera (even though their original name was Ramon Albó) and were built in 1929 through the Instituto Municipal de la Vivienda (today Patronat Municipal de l'Habitatge). These type of houses were designed for the urban working-class population that was suffering a huge increase between the last third of the XIXth century and the first third of the XXth century. After a part of the illegal settlements in Montjuïc had been destroyed during the construction process of the Exposició Universal, these 650 small houses with a single floor were one of the architectonical answers to the increase of urban population in Barcelona, partly due to inmigration from the rest of Catalonia and the south of Spain. Can Peguera is the only sample of "cases barates" that is left in the city, as in the last years two of the four examples (Eduard Aunós in Zona Franca and Baró de Viver in Sant Andreu) have been demolished and the one in Bon Pastor is now being dismantled. Having this in mind, viewing this area is an exceptional opportunity due to its rareness.

The "cases barates" were houses -both properties or rents- promoted by the government and built with official helps and loans with low interests. Houses were usually built in groups in low urbanized areas and on cheap soils and should offer workers the possibility of a healthy and comfortable life that would have a positive influence on their work life. The first project took place in 1911, with the first law of the Casas Baratas and was repeated ten years later during the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, who also made the law extensive to the middle-classes. Houses were administrated either on a cooperative regime or through association with public institutions. Many of them have disappeared through years, not seldom because of urbanistic speculation. The ones who survived, like Can Peguera, are still in good condition and stand out in between high modern buildings.


It is difficult not to think about the humanity of these familiar houses with small front patios, especially after viewing urban areas like Ciudad Meridiana, built during the 50s and 60s and which Oriol Bohigas heavily criticizes in his text Elogi a la barraca.

To know more check out the following page (even though it speaks mainly about the casas baratas in Bon Pastor):
http://laciutathoritzontal.org/