Barcelona, barri a barri A living atlas of the 73 neighbourhoods

Sarrià-Sant Gervasi · 24

les Tres Torres

Les Tres Torres is named after three grand houses put up between 1901 and 1903 on the Nena Casas estate; today it can be read in a Gaudí school, a sculptor's house turned library, a market and the site of the Sarrià stadium.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

On the pedestrian Carrer de Can Ràbia, apartment blocks stand where the Estadi de Sarrià was: Italy beat Brazil 3-2 there in 1982, and on 20 September 1997 the stadium was brought down with 78 kilos of explosives.[7][2]

The neighbourhood arose in the second half of the 19th century under the name Gironella, south-east of the core of Sarrià, between the Barcelona-Sarrià road and the railway. Most of it belonged to the municipality of Sarrià until that became part of Barcelona in 1921.[2][8][1]

It began as a district of bourgeois detached houses with gardens, with a few pockets of craftsmen's houses; both have largely been replaced by blocks of luxury flats.[2][8]

les Tres Torres (neighbourhood 24) highlighted. Other neighbourhoods in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi: Sant Gervasi - la Bonanova, el Putxet i el Farró, Sant Gervasi - Galvany, Vallvidrera, el Tibidabo i les Planes, Sarrià.

Where the name comes from

Etymology: certain[1][2]

The neighbourhood is named after three grand houses, the torres, built between 1901 and 1903 by a group from Sants made up of Climent Mas and the Romaní brothers. According to Catalan Wikipedia, they were designed by Bonaventura Conill. The name replaced Gironella, by which the area had been known in the 19th century, and the estate where they were raised was the Nena Casas estate. Of those three houses, only one still stands.[1][2]

The boundaries are Via Augusta, Carrer del Doctor Carulla and Carrer de Ganduxer, Avinguda Diagonal, Avinguda de Sarrià, Passeig de Manuel Girona, and Carrer de Bosch i Gimpera, Carrer del Cardenal Vives i Tutó, Carrer de Font Coberta, Carrer de Bonaplata and Carrer dels Vergós.[2]

Before the neighbourhood

The area was undeveloped land between the villages of Sarrià and Sant Gervasi de Cassoles, with the small settlement of Gironella and the Nena Casas estate. Can Gironella, an important property of the Baron of Quatre Torres, was bought by the Jesuits in 1883.[8][1]

How the streets were made

The oldest core lies around the market, between Carrer dels Vergós and Carrer de les Escoles Pies. The Can Ràbia sector, further south, consists of residential buildings put up on the site of the Sarrià stadium.[2]

The Sarrià railway has passed through since 1863 and Les Tres Torres station opened as a halt in 1906. The line went underground in 1952 and Via Augusta now follows its course, splitting the neighbourhood in two.[9][1]

Dates that changed it

  1. 1883 the Jesuits buy can Gironella, property of the Baron of Quatre Torres.[8][1]
  2. 1888 Antoni Gaudí receives the commission for the Teresian school, completed in 1889.[3][4]
  3. 1901 construction begins on the three houses that give the neighbourhood its name; they are finished in 1903.[1][2]
  4. 1906 the Les Tres Torres halt opens on the Sarrià railway.[9][1]
  5. 1921 Sarrià, with the Les Tres Torres sector, becomes part of Barcelona.[2][8][1]
  6. 1923 the Estadi de Sarrià, RCD Espanyol's ground, is inaugurated.[7]
  7. 1952 the railway goes underground and the underground Les Tres Torres station is inaugurated.[9][1]
  8. 1969 the Museu Clarà is inaugurated in the sculptor Josep Clarà's house-studio.[5][6]
  9. 1982 the Estadi de Sarrià hosts three World Cup matches, among them Italy v Brazil (3-2).[7]
  10. 1997 Espanyol play their last match at Sarrià (21 June) and the stadium is demolished on 20 September.[7]
  11. 2000 the Biblioteca Clarà is inaugurated in the sculptor's former house.[5][6]

People and collective life

Josep Clarà

A sculptor from Olot, he bought the property in 1942 and worked in the studio, remodelled by Raimon Duran i Reynals, from 1947 until his death in 1958. He made the city council his universal heir, with nearly 800 sculptures and some 10,000 drawings.[5][6]

Enric d'Ossó

He founded the Companyia de Santa Teresa de Jesús in Tarragona in 1876 and in 1888 commissioned Gaudí to design the school on Ganduxer.[3]

Climent Mas and the Romaní brothers

A group from Sants who had the three houses built between 1901 and 1903 and gave the area the name Les Tres Torres.[1][2]

Institutions

Mercat de les Tres Torres

Municipal market at Carrer dels Vergós 2, at the crossing with Carrer de les Escoles Pies, in the heart of the neighbourhood's oldest core.[10][2]

Biblioteca Clarà

Public library opened in February 2000 in the sculptor Josep Clarà's house (Carrer del Doctor Carulla 22), by Tonet Sunyer; it holds a section on noucentisme and on Clarà and a garden with bronze copies of his sculptures.[5][6]

Estació de les Tres Torres

Station of metro line L6 and of lines S1 and S2 of the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat; the present underground station dates from 1952 and has separate accesses for each platform on Via Augusta, at Calatrava and Àngel Guimerà.[9][1]

Struggles that left a mark

The closure of the Museu Clarà

Demand: In 1994 the council decided to close the museum, which averaged four visitors a day, and divide its works between the MNAC and the Museu de la Garrotxa. Hundreds of people demonstrated on 16 March and 27 April, and the Associació d'Amics del Museu Clarà was set up to demand its reopening.[5][6]

Outcome: Josette Clarà, the artist's niece, took the council to court for failing to honour her uncle's wishes: the ruling gave her the moral argument but held that Catalan civil law does not oblige the council to keep the museum open. In 1996 the conversion of the house into a library was approved, and it opened in 2000.[5][6]

The sale of the Estadi de Sarrià

Demand: Espanyol's financial problems forced the club to sell the stadium to property developers.[7]

Outcome: The operation was led by the Grup Sanahuja with Argentaria, RCDE Espanyol and OCP; the club received about EUR 60 million and the stadium was demolished on 20 September 1997 to make way for high-end flats.[7]

What can still be seen

Col·legi de les Teresianes

A work by Antoni Gaudí of 1888-1889, in exposed brick, with parabolic arches, wrought-iron grilles and a crenellated crown; a cultural asset of national interest. The interior corridor of successive parabolic arches is one of the building's best-known images.[3][4]

Jardí de la Biblioteca Clarà

The garden keeps the essence of what Clarà designed and holds bronze copies of his most emblematic sculptures, fruit trees and a pergola.[5][6]

What disappeared

The Estadi de Sarrià

RCD Espanyol's ground from 1923 to 1997, with an initial capacity of 10,000; in 1992 it hosted part of the Olympic football tournament. The last match was on 21 June 1997 and the stadium was demolished on 20 September; today the Can Ràbia residential sector stands there.[7][2]

Josep Clarà's studio

When the house was converted into a library in 1996, it was decided to demolish the sculptor's studio, which was in poor condition.[5][6]

The neighbourhood today

Les Tres Torres had 16,341 residents in 2026, 207.4 residents per hectare, a €49,258 mean census-section income in 2023, 78.8 hectares, and 14.4% of residents held non-Spanish nationality.

Non-Spanish nationality (2026): 14.4%

What is changing

In June 2026 it was announced that Gaudí's Col·legi de les Teresianes will become the Museu Gaudí Teresianes, a facility due in early 2028 that will open to the public a building that has so far been inaccessible. It will have a permanent-exhibition floor, the Espai Gaudí 360º.[11]

In May 2026 the district listed among its works the reopening of the Biblioteca Clarà, with improvements to the façade, air conditioning and accessibility; the Jardins d'Oriol Martorell, over the railway covers at Sarrià, meant to ease movement between Sarrià and les Tres Torres; and the removal of 435 metres of overhead cabling on streets such as Ganduxer.[12]

What the guides leave out

A palace for a sultan

Casa Muley Afid, by Josep Puig i Cadafalch (1914), was built for Sultan Abd al-Hafid of Morocco; today it is the Mexican consulate in Barcelona.[1]

Italy 3, Brazil 2

In 1982 the Estadi de Sarrià hosted three matches of group C of the World Cup's second phase, with Argentina, Brazil and Italy. The decisive one, which Italy won 3-2, is regarded as one of the best matches in World Cup history.[7]

Read it on foot

Start: Les Tres Torres (L6/S1/S2)[9][1] · End: Carrer de Can Ràbia[2]

Walking (excluding stop time): 20 min · 1530 m · Estimated visit (with stops): 54 min

The geometry follows the pedestrian network between the four marked points, but it has not been verified as step-free. The approach from public transport is not included in the stated distance.

les Tres Torres (neighbourhood 24) highlighted. Other neighbourhoods in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi: Sant Gervasi - la Bonanova, el Putxet i el Farró, Sant Gervasi - Galvany, Vallvidrera, el Tibidabo i les Planes, Sarrià.

1
Biblioteca Clarà
Biblioteca Clarà, Carrer del Doctor Carulla 22
Find the bronze copies of Clarà's sculptures and the pergola in the garden, then look at the house, which was the sculptor's own home.[5][6][12]
Josep Clarà bought the property in 1942 and worked in the studio until his death in 1958; the museum opened in 1969 and was closed after a major controversy, and in 2000 the house reopened as a library. In May 2026 the district listed its reopening after works.[5][6][12]
Coordinates
41.39977, 2.12961 · OpenStreetMap
2
Mercat de les Tres Torres
Mercat de les Tres Torres, Carrer dels Vergós 2
230 m · 3 min
Look at Carrer dels Vergós and Carrer de les Escoles Pies around the market: they mark the oldest core of the neighbourhood.[10][2][8]
The neighbourhood began as a set of bourgeois detached houses with gardens, with a few pockets of craftsmen's houses, and most have been replaced by blocks of luxury flats. The market stands in the oldest part of that fabric.[10][2][8]
Coordinates
41.40000, 2.13118 · OpenStreetMap
3
Col·legi de les Teresianes
Teresianes, Carrer de Ganduxer 85-105
260 m · 4 min
Notice the exposed-brick façade: the parabolic arches, the wrought-iron grilles and the crenellated crown with pinnacles ending in four-armed crosses.[3][4][11]
Enric d'Ossó commissioned the design from Gaudí in 1888, and the architect followed the order's wish to express austerity: exposed brick instead of costly material. It is a cultural asset of national interest. In June 2026 it was announced that it will become the Museu Gaudí Teresianes, due in early 2028.[3][4][11]
Coordinates
41.39993, 2.13357 · OpenStreetMap
4
Antic Estadi de Sarrià
Antic Estadi de Sarrià, Carrer de Can Ràbia
1040 m · 14 min
Walk along the pedestrian Carrer de Can Ràbia and look at the residential blocks on the site where the stadium's stands once rose.[7][2]
The Estadi de Sarrià was inaugurated on 18 February 1923 and was Espanyol's ground until 1997. Italy and Brazil played there (3-2) at the 1982 World Cup. The last match was on 21 June 1997; the stadium was demolished on 20 September to make way for high-end flats.[7][2]
Coordinates
41.39196, 2.13492 · OpenStreetMap

Sources for this page

Dates, figures and historical claims are linked to the records used for this page.

  1. [1] Wikipedia (2026). Les Tres Torres. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  2. [2] Viquipèdia, l'enciclopèdia lliure (2026). Les Tres Torres. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  3. [3] Viquipèdia, l'enciclopèdia lliure (2026). Col·legi de les Teresianes (Barcelona). Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  4. [4] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Coneix Barcelona (2026). El Col·legi de les Teresianes. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  5. [5] Viquipèdia, l'enciclopèdia lliure (2026). Biblioteca Clarà. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  6. [6] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Biblioteques de Barcelona (2026). Biblioteca Clarà. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  7. [7] Viquipèdia, l'enciclopèdia lliure (2026). Estadi de Sarrià. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  8. [8] Enciclopèdia Catalana (2026). les Tres Torres, a la Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  9. [9] Viquipèdia, l'enciclopèdia lliure (2026). Estació de les Tres Torres. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  10. [10] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Comerç (2026). Mercat Tres Torres. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  11. [11] 3Cat (2026-06-08). El Col·legi de les Teresianes de Barcelona serà un nou museu dedicat a Gaudí. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  12. [12] Línia Sarrià (2026-05-04). L'Ajuntament de Barcelona inverteix més que mai a Sarrià-Sant Gervasi. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  13. [13] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2026-01-01). Padró municipal d'habitants (pad_mdbas) — població per barri. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
  14. [14] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2021). Densitat de població per barri. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
  15. [15] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2023). Renda disponible de les llars per persona. Seccions censals. Accessed: 2026-07-17.

Last reviewed: 3 October 2026 · 15 sources consulted

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