This Wednesday the fourth round table of the ‘Inconvenient Barcelona’ cycle takes place, and the topic could not be more appropriate: the Via Laietana. If this street is normally the subject of citizen debate, since the reform process that should last more than a year has begun, there is still more controversy about what its future should be. We cannot answer this, but following its origins we can give clues to understand why it arouses so many passions in the public sphere. History always helps guide the future.
Seen from Plaza de Urquinaona, Via Laietana may seem like a very long slide that slides down to the sea, but when viewed on a map, it reveals its true essence. It is a deep gash in the soul of the old city, that dense network of streets that had grown under the shelter of the walls. Its construction involved a deep cut and the scar still festers.
His execution was already foreseen in the Cerdà Plan from 1859, but the big investors preferred to make money by taking advantage of the immense space in the Eixample to build non-stop; It was with the passing of the decades that the idea of materializing that project gained strength. At a time when there was still no dream of being able to fly and the railways were in their infancy, maritime transport was the main system for trade and travel. Cerdà had already taken this into account and for this reason he had proposed what he called Via A, which was nothing more than the extension of Pau Claris street to the port. That is, to make a direct line between the bourgeois Barcelona that reigned in the ‘eixamplina’ grid and the main means of communication.
To make it a reality, in 1899 the architect Angel Baixeras got down to work with the Internal Reform Plan, but there were only cobwebs in the municipal coffers and the town hall entrusted the management of the operation to Banco Hispano Colonial, which, using the forced expropriation law in force then he began a large real estate operation for which he obtained juicy commissions. The layout of Via Laietana meant the disappearance of 74 streets and the destruction of 270 buildings in which there were 2,200 houses, which were home to 10,000 people, almost all working class who were there for rent and who were left with nothing.
The argument of the ruling class was that you had to fluff up old neighborhoods, where there was too much population density. The great men of Barcelona dreamed of the boulevards that Haussmann had designed in Paris around the Arc de Triomphe. But it was not only a question of health, but also of control. In those narrow streets was where they used to start the labor and political conflicts. Building a grand avenue would help move law enforcement more effectively to crack them down.
Via Laietana, which was built in phases between 1907 and 1913, became the business nerve center of the bourgeoisieas evidenced by the fact that large entities of the time such as Promotion of Work, the Pension Fund, the Banca Jover, the Bank of Spain and, in addition, it was where notable personalities established their residence. The most relevant case is that of the leader of conservative Catalanism, Francesc Cambowhich was built in an attic on the corner of Carrer del Pare Gallifa.
The final result was a layout 900 meters long and 80 meters wide which, in the words of the historian Francesc Xavier Hernàndez, turned Via Laietana into a setting that hid the miseries of the old quarter that existed behind the large buildings. Because, indeed, many of those who were expelled from their homes moved to nearby areas and consequently population density increased further. This is for those who were luckier, because others ended their days in the neighborhoods of beach shacks.
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Of course, bourgeois Barcelona had its avenue for business, to emulate the great European and American metropolises that were a paradigm of progress 90 years ago. Now that modernity has changed its neighbourhood, it is time to mend the Laietana scar.
Transfer stone to stone
Apart from the human cost, building Via Laietana also meant the destruction of architectural heritage, with the demolition of medieval palaces and convents. Only a few buildings were saved, which were transferred, stone by stone, to other places in the city, such as Casa Padellàs, which is now the Barcelona History Museum and is located in Plaça del Rei.
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