Can Figueras

Can Figueras is a historic house on the main street of Aiguafreda, a small town in the Vallès Oriental region, Barcelona province.

Where is Can Figueras located?

The building stands at Carrer Major 45, the main street of Aiguafreda and the town's traditional backbone. Several similar houses belonging to well-off families went up along this same street in the 1920s, and Can Figueras is one of them.

What does the building look like?

Can Figueras is a party-wall house, meaning it shares walls with the neighboring buildings rather than standing free on its own plot. It rises over two storeys — a ground floor and an upper floor — under a two-pitched roof. The façade follows a symmetrical layout and is topped with an overhanging cornice, giving it the orderly, restrained look typical of well-to-do town houses from that period.

At street level, a stone plinth runs along the base of the façade, broken only where doors and windows sit. The most distinctive feature is a large ground-floor window fitted with a wrought-iron grille in a Modernista (Catalan Art Nouveau) style — a detail that sets Can Figueras apart from the plainer houses further down the same street.

Why does this house matter to Aiguafreda?

Can Figueras is listed in Catalonia's architectural heritage inventory. Its significance is not tied to a single historical event but to what it represents: a well-preserved example of the residential building boom Aiguafreda went through in the early 20th century, when the town was growing as a summer retreat and market centre in the Tenes river valley.

How can visitors see Can Figueras?

The house is privately owned, so there is no public access to the interior. The façade, however, can be admired freely from Carrer Major. Walking the length of the street also brings several other houses from the same era into view, giving a fuller sense of what Aiguafreda's early 20th-century architecture looked like. The walk pairs easily with a stop at the town's main square, just a few minutes away on foot.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can visitors go inside Can Figueras? No. The building is privately owned and is not set up as a visitor attraction with interior access — it can only be viewed from the street.

When was Can Figueras built? It dates from the 1920s, a decade when several comparable houses for wealthier families were built along Aiguafreda's Carrer Major.

What does the name "Can Figueras" mean? In Catalan, the prefix "Can" means "the house of," so the name points to the Figueras family that originally owned the property.

How do you get to Aiguafreda to see Can Figueras? Aiguafreda sits in Vallès Oriental, along the route between Barcelona and Vic. The town is served by the R3 railway line (Barcelona–Vic–Puigcerdà), with the Aiguafreda station just a short walk from Carrer Major.