A textile warehouse, a bank and a museum: 130 years of Gaudí in the heart of León
In 1891 two León textile merchants asked Antoni Gaudí for a building that would hold their shop, their warehouse, their home and some flats to rent. He gave them a neo-Gothic castle, in dialogue with the city's great cathedral and its medieval walls.
It was built in ten months. Today it's a museum, and one of only three Gaudí buildings outside Catalonia.
The merchant Joan Homs i Botinàs settles in León and founds a textile business. His surname will give the building its name.
Simón Fernández and Mariano Andrés, who run the business, commission a new building. Eusebi Güell recommends Gaudí, then working on the Episcopal Palace in Astorga.
Work starts in January and is finished by November: shop and warehouse below, the owners' home on the main floor, rented flats above.
The sculpture of Saint George and the dragon, by Llorenç Matamala, is placed over the entrance.
The Caja de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad de León buys the building. It becomes a bank headquarters, later of Caja España.
During work on the Saint George sculpture, a lead tube is found behind it, holding Gaudí's signed plans, documents and newspapers of the time.
Casa Botines is declared a national historic-artistic monument.
A bronze statue of Gaudí sitting on a bench, by José Luis Fernández, is placed in front of the building.
On 23 April, the Museo Casa Botines Gaudí opens, run by the Fundación Obra Social de Castilla y León.
Casa Botines joins Astorga, Comillas and other Gaudí buildings in a joint bid to extend Gaudí's World Heritage listing.
On the ground floor, Gaudí replaced load-bearing walls with slender cast-iron columns, freeing space for the shop. A moat around the building brings light and air to the basement, an idea he would use again at the Sagrada Família.
The roof hides a complex timber structure with skylights, visible on the guided visit.
Gaudí came to León while building the Episcopal Palace in nearby Astorga for a Catalan bishop. His patron Eusebi Güell, who supplied fabric to the León merchants, recommended him for the job.
With El Capricho in Comillas, they are his only buildings outside Catalonia.
The four façades are built of grey stone, with four round corner towers topped by slate spires. Pointed Gothic windows run around every floor, varying in shape from level to level.
Over the main door, Saint George kills the dragon: the sculpture is by Llorenç Matamala, and the dragon was inspired by a gargoyle of the Sagrada Família. Around the building, a wrought-iron railing guards the moat.
Local engineers doubted Gaudí's foundations when the building went up. It has stood without structural problems ever since.
The private old-town tour passes Casa Botines with an official guide in English. See the tour →
His other neo-Gothic masterpiece is 50 km west. Tickets →
Open every day except Tuesday. General tickets €10, guided visits €13.