The work belongs to the orientalist style, similar to Neo-Mudéjar architecture, although interpreted in Gaudí’s own personal way, with a uniqueness that only he knew how to add to his projects.

Instead, he passed it to one of his protégés, Joan Baptista Serra, who built an extension following Gaudí’s original style, with the inclusion of a new facade, resulting in the building being fully detached.

During this period, Gaudí used an abundance of ceramic tiling to decorate his work, as well as Moorish arches, columns of exposed brick and temple-shaped or dome-shaped finishes.

To finance his studies, Gaudí worked as a draughtsman for various architects and builders, such as Leandre Serrallach, Joan Martorell, Emilio Sala Cortés, Francisco de Paula del Villar y Lozano and Josep Fontserè.

In the same year, 1883, he worked on an altarpiece for the chapel of the Santíssim Sagrament in the parish church of San Feliu in Alella, as well as topographical plans for the Can Rosell de la Llena farmhouse in Gelida.

[4] Gaudí had studied Neo-Mudéjar art in the works of Owen Jones, such as Plans, Elevations, Sections and Details of the Alhambra (1842), Designs for Mosaics and Tessellated Pavements (1842) and Grammar of Ornament (1856).

Stylistically, it belongs entirely to his orientalist phase, but the abundance of decorative artwork (ceramics, ironwork, glasswork, and woodwork) shows signs of what would be Gaudí’s golden age within Catalan Modernism.

[23][note 4] Gaudí personally managed the construction: according to the testimony of Joan Baptista Serra to George R. Collins in 1959, the architect sat under a parasol and supervised the build, occasionally knocking down what he considered to be poor workmanship.

[12] Throughout the project, Gaudí called on the help of various craftsmen who would regularly assist him in his work, such as the sculptor Llorenç Matamala, the carpenter Eudald Puntí and the blacksmith Joan Oñós, as well as Claudi Alsina, a contractor.

The tiles would feature yellow flowers typical of the area (Indian carnations or Tagetes erecta),[31] which Gaudí had found on the site of the house before construction, and which he wanted to reproduce in the final project.

He was also inspired by a palmetto tree he discovered on site, to design the cast iron gate at the main entrance in the shape of palm leaves (Chamaerops humilis).

[32] The former garden was made up of three areas: one that separated the house from the street; one situated in front of the grand entrance, with circular flowerbeds of palms; and another at the side which featured fruit trees.

[37] The garden had another fountain at the main entrance, featuring two superimposed cups, the lower one larger and cylindrical in shape, covered with stucco, and further up, tiles with carnation motifs.

The one at the top was shaped like an octagonal prism, with the sides measuring 75 × 45 cm, and was covered in ceramic tiles featuring motifs of flowers and sunflower leaves.

[25] In a piece of land next to Casa Vicens, at number 28 Carrer de les Carolines, there was a freshwater spring called Santa Rita which dated back many years.

[55] A secondary door for the staff that was next to the dividing wall of the convent – and is currently a window – also disappeared, as well as a terrace located above this entrance that led to one of the bedrooms on the second floor, replaced by a balcony.

[58] In 1927 Casa Vicens won the Best Building Award by Barcelona City Council, due to the renovations and extension carried out by Joan Baptista Serra, although, secondarily, it was also to recognise the work of Gaudí.

[60] The building underwent a new extension in 1935, when the architect Francisco Víctor Ortenbach Bertrán was commissioned to add a new area to the ground floor, on the west side of the facade.

[62] In 1962, Dr. Jover’s widow, Ángela González Sánchez, passed away, leaving her children, Antonio, Gaspar, María de la Paloma and Fabiola as heirs.

The figure of Gaudí, extraordinarily valued throughout the world, has managed to turn his work into the most interesting and enduring exponent of the notable artistic movements of our time.” It also defines Casa Vicens as “one of the first landmarks of oriental-inspired Modernism, with the novelty of polychrome facades with natural materials in various textures combined with glazed ceramics”.

In its statement, UNESCO stated that “these works attest to the exceptional contribution of Gaudí’s creations, to the evolution of architecture and construction techniques in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

[74] The restoration was carried out by architects Elías Torres and José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, together with David García of the firm Daw Office SLP, between 2015 and 2017.

On the second floor of both the street facade and the garden there is a continuous gallery of mitred arches that surrounds the upper part, closed off with oriental-style wooden latticework.

The second floor, with the attic, is noticeable for its tile cladding and features a chimney at the top, while on the left corner a small pavilion emerges, with a cupola.

The terrace located above the porch has wooden benches with metal railings and planters in the corners, decorated with tiles that alternate flowers and sunflower leaves, similar to those used in El Capricho in Comillas.

These small pavilions – Serra’s is an exact replica of Gaudí’s original – are clad in tiles, combining carnations with green and white check, and a cupola crowned with a bronze flame.

[106] The dining room (32 m2) is decorated with climbing ivy made of stucco on a gold background in the free spaces of carpentry and tiling,[51] alternating with papier-mâché with fruit motifs and strawberry leaves between the roof beams.

Similarly, on the doorposts between the dining room and the porch are paintings of natural motifs (flora and fauna) made by Francesc Torrescassana, such as sparrows, hummingbirds, herons, cranes and flamingos.

[116] The Jover family added an Islamic style lamp, of translucent glass with Arabic letters, which was removed in 2020 during the restoration process, as it did not belong to Gaudí’s original project.

On his return, he focused principally on historical, costumbrista, portrait and landscape painting, in a realist style that in its final stages evolved into a certain degree of impressionism.