la Nova Esquerra de l'Eixample

Rafael Guastavino i Moreno

Architect of the Batlló mill (1869-1875), a specialist in industrial buildings with brick vaults; he emigrated to the United States in 1881.^[8]

Feliu i Joan Batlló i Barrera

Textile-industrialist brothers from Olot who carried on with the large cotton mill after two other brothers died in 1866; Feliu died in 1878.^[8]

Joan Rubió i Bellver

Architect of Casa Golferichs (1900-1901) and, as chief architect of the Mancomunitat, of the extension of the Escola Industrial (1927-1931).^[8]

Macari Golferichs i Losada

Civil engineer, timber merchant and businessman in the Americas who commissioned the house in 1900; the family lived there until the summer of 1936.^[10]

Lluís Maria Xirinacs

Between 1975 and 1977 he sat almost every day in front of the Model, where he had been imprisoned, in a personal campaign for the amnesty of political prisoners.^[4]

Escola del Treball de Barcelona

Heir to the Escola Elemental del Treball, opened in 1914 on the site of the former Batlló mill; the complex belongs to the Diputació and also houses the Piscina Sant Jordi.^[8]

Casa Golferichs (centre cívic)

Civic centre in Casa Golferichs since 1989, which also houses the Fundació Carles Pi i Sunyer.^[10]

Biblioteca Joan Miró

Facility inaugurated during the Mercè festival of 1990 that completed the layout of the Parc de Joan Miró.^[5][6][7]

Saving Casa Golferichs

Demand: In 1972 the house was sold to a developer that wanted to pull it down for housing; the Sant Antoni neighbours' association and other bodies began a campaign that held up the demolition for more than a decade.^[10]

Outcome: The city bought it in 1984 and it reopened in 1989 as a civic centre.^[10]

A prison in the middle of the neighbourhood

Demand: From 1976 neighbours asked for the Model to be moved and for facilities to be built on its land.^[4]

Outcome: The city approved the transformation in 2009 and the prison closed in 2017; the facilities are due between 2028 and 2035.^[4]

The trees of the Parc de Joan Miró

Demand: Neighbours mobilised against the occupation of the park for the L8 tunnelling logistics zone.^[12][13][5]

Outcome: In October 2024 the plan was cut from 8,800 m2 and 178 trees to 5,300 m2 and 118 trees.^[12][13][5]

Edifici del Rellotge

Listed as a local cultural asset of interest; the brick-and-stone building of Guastavino's first phase has a square tower at each end of its Comte d'Urgell façade.^[8]

Casa Golferichs

Modernista house with Gothic roots by Joan Rubió i Bellver, with a corner gallery on seven small stone columns and openings in brick and green-and-ochre glazed ceramic.^[10]

Dona i ocell

Joan Miró's 22 m sculpture above an artificial pond, partly covered in broken ceramic by Joan Gardy Artigas, in the Parc de Joan Miró.^[5][6][7]

Panòptic de la presó Model

Central hall with a metal dome on iron columns from the Dionís Escorsa foundry, from which six radial galleries start; the memorial space will occupy part of it.^[4]

The municipal abattoir

The municipal abattoir occupied four blocks of the Cerdà plan; the Parc de Joan Miró opened there in 1983.^[5][6][7]

The bullring as a bullring

The Arenes hosted bullfights until 19 June 1977; since 2011 they have been a shopping centre with the neo-Mudéjar façade preserved.^[9]

The Model: updated timetable (June 2026)

On 5 June 2026 the city updated the calendar for the former prison. The first facilities are due in 2028: the Institut Escola Xirinacs, moving from temporary modules to the Tallers building on Carrer de Nicaragua for the 2028-2029 school year, an energy centre, a groundwater tank and a sports hall. A second phase, between 2031 and 2034, covers public housing reserved for designated groups, a nursery, a youth space and a memorial centre in the panopticon; the third and last phase runs to 2035.^[18]

FGC L8 and the Parc de Joan Miró (as of October 2026)

The L8 extension between Plaça d'Espanya and Gràcia uses part of the Parc de Joan Miró as the tunnelling logistics zone. In October 2024 the occupation was cut from 8,800 m2 and 178 trees to 5,300 m2 and 118 trees, and some of the trees were felled in 2024. As of 28 September 2026 the tunnel boring machine was due to start in October between Carrer de Llançà and Carrer de Vilamarí, with the long drive towards Gràcia from February 2027.^[12][13][5]

A “Little Romania” in the Eixample

English Wikipedia records that the Nova Esquerra has been called a “Little Romania”. A 2014 La Vanguardia report, rendered in Romanian by Economica.net, described a courier firm, groceries and restaurants run by Romanians on and around Carrer de Provença, where people came from all over Catalonia to collect parcels and shop.^[2][19]

A bullring on a hill

The Arenes were built on the Vinyeta hill; that is why, in the conversion, the preserved façade needed a steel-and-concrete portico to bridge the difference in level with the streets.^[9]