Casa Campmajor

Casa Campmajor is a heritage single-family house in Cardedeu, a small town in Catalonia's Vallès Oriental region, roughly 35 kilometers north of Barcelona. The building sits on a quiet residential street and stands as one of the town's local examples of Noucentisme architecture — the movement that, in the early twentieth century, replaced the exuberant Modernisme of the turn of the century with a more restrained, classically inspired style.

What does Casa Campmajor look like?

The house follows the "ciutat jardí" (garden city) model that shaped much of early twentieth-century Catalan residential building: a free-standing villa set within its own plot rather than sharing party walls with neighboring houses. Casa Campmajor has a ground floor and an upper floor beneath a four-sided pitched roof, with a small attic tucked underneath. A square tower rises above part of the building, topped by its own four-sided roof, and the main entrance is sheltered by a covered porch.

Who designed it?

The building is attributed to Ramon Puig i Gairalt, a Catalan architect working within the Noucentisme tradition, which paired classically inspired proportion with local building custom. His work favors clean, orderly volumes and restrained ornament, in contrast to the flowing, organic decoration associated with architects like Gaudí. Casa Campmajor is a domestic-scale example of that sensibility.

Is Casa Campmajor a protected building?

Yes. The house is listed as a Bé Cultural d'Interès Local (BCIL) — an asset of local cultural interest — in Catalonia's heritage register. That designation means any renovation or change to the façade requires municipal oversight, and it formally recognizes the building as part of Cardedeu's architectural identity.

Why does Cardedeu have so many houses like this?

Around the turn of the twentieth century, Cardedeu became a favored summer retreat for Barcelona's bourgeoisie, and that period of wealth left a cluster of Modernisme and Noucentisme houses scattered through the town center. Casa Campmajor stands alongside other protected houses from the same era, such as Casa Cortès, Torre Amat and Casa Pere Llibre, each reflecting a slightly different taste within roughly the same generation of local patrons. Walking between them offers a compact lesson in how architectural fashion shifted within a single generation of Catalan bourgeois builders.

Casa Campmajor remains a private residence and is not open to the public; visitors can only view it from the street.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Casa Campmajor? A protected early twentieth-century house in Cardedeu, designed in the Noucentisme style by architect Ramon Puig i Gairalt.

Can visitors go inside? No. It is a private home, and only the exterior can be viewed from the public street.

What makes Noucentisme different from Catalan Modernisme? Noucentisme favors restrained, classically balanced forms over the ornate, curving lines typical of Modernisme, while still valuing careful craftsmanship.

What heritage status does the building have? It is registered as a Bé Cultural d'Interès Local (BCIL), Catalonia's designation for assets of local cultural significance.