Embassy route
Embassy route
This itinerary allows you to discover where the diplomatic delegations of the main countries that fled the dangers of the city of Barcelona were set up, and focuses exclusively on the municipalities of Caldes d'Estrac, Sant Vicenç de Montalt, Arenys de Mar, Premià de Dalt and Sant Andreu de Llavaneres.
Can Bastos (Residence of the French Consul)
The French consulate moved to Barcelona in November 1937, specifically to the Torre Vilana (now the Teknon Clinic), after the appointment of the new ambassador M. Labonne. At the end of March 1938, after the bombing of Barcelona, the French consulate moved to Caldes d'Estrac. Labonne was replaced by Jules Henry, who would present his credentials on 31 December 1938 at the Pedralbes Palace. The French ambassador lived in Sant Andreu de Llavaneres, while most of the French diplomatic and consular staff were in Caldes d'Estrac. In fact, the French consul lived in Can Bastos, a neoclassical building built in 1880 on Carrer Major in Caldes d'Estrac, which was owned by Dr. Bastos, who gave the estate its name.
Can Boada (Costa Rica Embassy)
The first information about Can Sans dates back to the 16th century. Its first known owner was Baltasar Gerónima Viladomat, later followed by Joan Alsina and then Joaquim Sans, who gave the house its name. When he died in 1899, the owner was Alfredo Boada, after whom the estate was also known. The building is a two-floor corner house from the 18th century, located at 38 Carrer Major in Caldes d'Estrac. During the Spanish Civil War, it housed the Costa Rican embassy after the terrible bombing of Barcelona in mid-March 1938, which drove the departure of the consulates and embassies from the Catalan capital.
Can Marcelino Coll (French Consulate)
Located on the Turó de Caldes hill, at number 1 of Carrer del Pont del Sergent, is Can Coll, a colonial-style detached villa built in 1917. Its owner was Marcelino Coll, the owner of the company Can Valls. The 389-square metre building, with a ground floor and one storey above, is surrounded by a garden and the main façade faces south. The ground floor has a porch with a series of columns, while on the first floor there is a terrace with an iron railing and a series of accesses to the interior.
This property was chosen by the French government to set up the consulate after the terrible attacks that Barcelona suffered in mid-March 1938. The work of the French consulate was incessant and, thanks to its location away from the town centre, from August 1938 it began to repatriate French people via Caldes d'Estrac, as well as Catalan republicans.
Can Mercè i Garriga (Consulate of Unietd Kingdom of Great Britain and Northen Ireland)
The British first set up their consulate in Caldes d'Estrac. It was one of the first countries to do this and later they would do the same with their embassy. On 12 June 1937, the British Consulate General moved to Caldes d'Estrac, to numbers 30 and 31 of the sea promenade, facing the sea, specifically at the Garriga and Mercè villas. In fact, there was a misunderstanding regarding the occupation of the Garriga and Mercè villas, as each of them had to be occupied by the delegations of Great Britain and the USSR, respectively. Eventually, the Soviets remained in Barcelona, so the British occupied both buildings. The British consulate was thus installed in Casa Garriga, while the owner of the buildings, Ms. Maria Vernet, moved into the Casa Mercè, together with the staff of the British consulate. There is evidence that on 29 June 1937, the British consulate was already at the Garriga and Mercè villas.
The two houses shared a garden and were twins, with very similar characteristics; semi-basement summer houses with a ground floor and two floors above, in French neoclassical style.
Can Soler (Embassy of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)
The British embassy was one of the last to move from Valencia to Barcelona but the first to go to Caldes d'Estrac. On 19 November 1937, the British embassy asked for the Torre Sol i Mar. On the 22nd, the Council of Caldes d'Estrac gave Mr. Cristóbal Morales (who lived there) 5 days to leave the house, offering him Torre Coll in exchange. In many cases, the estates were ceded as the headquarters of the permanent representation of the different States accredited before the Republic and the owners often remained in the buildings. The building therefore remained inviolable, guaranteeing that there would be no destruction or bombing of it, and the diplomats could get much better residences and headquarters than they had ever had before.
Can Soler, also known as Casa Solimar or Sol i Mar, is located on the Turó de Caldes hill, occupying a platform atop a cliff of about 20 metres that opens like a natural viewpoint over the sea. It consists of the main house and another secondary farmhouse. It formerly had several facilities, such as a tennis court and a pond, which are no longer there. Both the house and the garden created around it are from the second decade of the 20th century and of unmistakable Noucentista character. The owner and developer was the industrialist Santiago Soler i Puigdollers, a member of a long lineage of Terrassa textile businessmen. Together with his brothers, Maurici and Francesc, they owned the family business Filats i Tints Soler.
Casa de Fusta (Netherlands Embassy)
The headquarters of the Dutch embassy was located at the Casa de la Fusta (Wooden House), also known as La Marañosa. This was the house of the Swiss pavilion at the Barcelona International Exhibition of 1929. At the initiative of the businessman Zobel, owner of the Hispano-Suiza brand, it was dismantled and taken from the Catalan capital to Caldes d'Estrac, adapting it very well to the rugged terrain of the Turó de Caldes hill.
This is a detached chalet surrounded by a garden with wooden and earth elements and fences. The house has a ground floor and a first floor, with a west-facing wooden façade and slate roof.
From 1934, the honorary vice-consul was the German Franz Schlosser, who had been a captain in the German colonial army in Cameroon. In 1916 he surrendered to the Spanish authorities in Rio Muni and from there he was transferred to Pamplona in World War I. During the Spanish Civil War, and when the Dutch delegation was left without any diplomats, he was appointed plenipotentiary general, leading some of the most famous evacuations of asylum seekers in Madrid. Later settled in Caldes d'Estrac, he is thought to have died in a Nazi concentration camp after leaving for France at the end of the Civil War with the embassy archives.
Can Puig Marcet (Bulgarian Embassy)
After the bombing of the city of Barcelona in mid-March 1938, many delegations from foreign countries decided to look for safer places, moving to various towns in the Maresme. Both Caldes d'Estrac and Sant Andreu de Llavaneres or Sant Vicenç de Montalt hosted the headquarters of the different embassies and consulates. These places had advantages: they were not military targets, they had suitable buildings for diplomat residences and could be reached both by land and by sea and easily evacuated, if necessary. Bulgaria was one of those countries that moved its embassy to Can Puig Marcet in Caldes d'Estrac.
Can Miracle (Argentine Embassy)
The Argentine embassy was moved from Valencia to Barcelona in November 1937. The business director of the Argentine Republic, Guillermo de Achával, on 8 December 1937 decided to establish his residence in Caldes d'Estrac, at number 4 of Passeig dels Anglesos, in Can Geiss. The Argentine embassy also represented the interests of Uruguay, which broke off relations with republican Spain, and those of Germany and Italy, allies of Franco's regime. On 13 April 1938, it even represented Austria's interests in republican Spain.
Achával established his residence at the embassy on a "provisional" basis on 4 February 1938, and left on 26 January 1939, the day Barcelona was occupied by Franco's troops.
Torre Seldwyla (Swiss Honorary Consul)
Built in 1925, the Torre Seldwyla is a two-floor detached corner house surrounded by a garden. The site is 104 square metres, with a building of 90 square metres. The main façade faces south-east and the sea. The building has several entrances and can be accessed from Passeig del Anglesos (numbers 28-29). This building was the residence of the Honorary Consul of Switzerland, Frédréric Gschwind, who died in Caldes d'Estrac in 1942. Although the Swiss embassy moved there on 9 September 1938, the Swiss consul, Adolf Gonzenbach, is likely to have resided there during the autumn of 1938.
Hotel Caldescans (Danish Consulate)
The Danish consulate was established at the current Hotel Caldescans, at number 6 of Carrer Santema. It was one of the first to do so in this town of the Maresme. The house, built in the late 19th century and owned by a former indiano (Spanish emigrant who became rich in Latin America) is modernist in style. Today, a metal piece can still be seen on the façade, which was used to fix the pole bearing the country's flag.
Villa Blanca (Mexican embassy)
The Mexican embassy was in Barcelona from the end of 1937. The Mexican ambassador, Adalberto Tejada, paid out of his own pocket for a children's colony at Villa Blanca, in Sant Vicenç de Montalt. There were 50 children, the Mexican flag was flying and it became an extension of the Mexican embassy in Barcelona. In Arenys de Munt, Mexico also opened another children's colony at Can Botet, in August of the same year. It may have been the same children's colony but moved, because the President of the Spanish Republic, Manuel Azaña, occupied Villa Blanca during that time.
The building is spectacular, built in 1909 with a large garden. Today it is a hotel.
Can Valls (France embassy)
The Gabrielistas brothers settled after being expelled from France during the Third French Republic.
During the civil war, it became the silent testimony of one of the most traumatic events that Sant Vicenç de Montalt experienced during its history when, on November 7, 1936, the convent was surrounded by armed FAI-CNT militiamen and forty brothers. they were detained, forced to board buses until they were taken to Barcelona. Some were tortured and closed to later be shot.
In May 1937, a refugee center (War Shelter Number 54) was established with more than two hundred and fifteen exiles. During 1938 the farm was the "Accommodation Center" of the French Embassy until the end of the war, which It was occupied by the government of the Spanish Republic when President Manuel Azaña, while in exile in France, visited the town in January 1939.
Can Pellicer (Swedish Embassy)
The Swedish embassy relocated 14 times during the Spanish Civil War. The last time was between March and April 1938 to Can Arquer del Passeig, in Sant Vicenç de Montalt, at number 15 of Passeig del Marqués de Casa Riera. On this promenade stand a series of single-family homes with Noucentista style gardens and built during the 1920s as summer residences. One of these was Can Arquer del Passeig, built in 1918 and so named to distinguish it from Can Antic de la Santema. It is characterised by its Italianised style with large terraces with balustrades supported by columns, and its garden was raised above street level. During the Spanish Civil War, Teià Council agreed to cede the Torre Godó to the Swedish embassy on 9 March 1938, in order to set up a nursery for boys and girls, known as the Hogar Sueco-Catalan.
Can Badia (Swiss Embassy)
The Swiss clue to the fact that the house had been the embassy of the Swiss Confederation in 1938 is very subtle. Switzerland did not move its embassy to Barcelona until September 1938. It was installed at then Carrer de Belgica, 97
(which is now Carrer d'Alfons XII, where the Col·legi Suís de Barcelona is located). The only trace left of this diplomatic period in the house are the metal rings on the pediment, above the terrace
what a porch There was the pole on which the Swiss flag flew.
Text taken from the book 5 HOUSES WITH HISTORY. SAINT VINCENZ DE MONTALT
Lluis Grau, David Pons, Jordi Sellarés, Xavier Torrentóm Maria Rosa Grau, Antonia Caño, Núria Gifra, Joan Buch
Villa Carmen (Brazilian Embassy)
The Brazilian embassy was moved from Madrid to Barcelona on 4 March 1938, and later to Villa Carmen in Arenys de Mar. Carlos da Silveira Martins Ramos, the business director, was in charge.
Due to the lack of food at that time, from the end of August 1938 and on the initiative of the ambassador, Villa Carmen organised lunches and snacks for all children from 6 to 12 years old of the schools of Arenys de Mar, who went there in groups of up to 50 students. The food was obtained in Perpignan and was paid for by the ambassador himself, as it seems that the Brazilian government did not want to bear the cost.
Villa Carmen is a detached summer house, surrounded by gardens, with a square lookout tower, built between 1888 and 1910.
Vila Betània (French protection)
Religious persecution in the republican territory was very intense during the early months of the Spanish war. In Arenys de Mar the nuns caring for the sick and the elderly were allowed to stay and continue with their work, but on the condition of dressing in a secular way and not performing any religious act. However, the religious congregation of Vil·la Betània remained under the protection of the French consulate, where it had a French flag and a sign in Spanish on the door warning of this special condition. At the end of 1938, the main chapel of Vil·la Betània was reopened, becoming the parish church, as the temple of Santa Maria was being used as a garage and was therefore unsuitable.
Torre Gran (US Embassy)
La Torre Gran is a large summer house built by the textile entrepreneur Antoni Serra Feliu in 1909 and turned into a hotel in 1956. The rectangular building is formed by several bodies of unequal heights, in which the semi-circular tribune stands out, which also acts as an enclosed terrace with an original wrought iron railing. It also had a beautiful Andalusian courtyard with a fountain in the centre and a magnificent garden, and was considered one of the best houses in Llavaneres. It was ceded by its owners to house the American embassy, which had a large flag on the façade. In fact, the U.S. embassy relocated several times during the Spanish Civil War: Madrid, Valencia, Barcelona and, finally, Sant Andreu de Llavaneres, where it moved on 5 April 1938.
Casa Romanyà (Bolivian Embassy)
Casa Romanyà, located at current number 56 of Avinguda Catalunya in Sant Andreu de Llavaneres, was the site chosen to establish the Bolivian embassy after the bombing of the city of Barcelona in mid-March 1938. This historic modernist building was built in 1910 by the architect Josep Coll i Vilaclara. Formerly known as "La Torre del Sot", it is a three-floor manor house surrounded by a large garden and a 2-metre-high wall with an iron balustrade.
Can Rivière (Belgium Embassy)
The Belgian embassy moved to Sant Andreu de Llavaneres, specifically to Can Rivière, also known as Can Ros, an 18th century farmhouse consisting of three bodies and two floors and located at current number 11 of Passeig Verge de Montserrat in Sant Andreu de Llavaneres.
In fact, the Government of Catalonia itself ordered Llavaneres Council to hand over the so-called estate to the Belgian delegation at the end of May 1938. Walter Loridan was the businessman who represented the Belgian government in Spain and moved to Barcelona in late 1937 from Valencia and later, in June 1938, to Sant Andreu de Llavaneres. He remained in this town of the Maresme until 2 December 1938, leaving Jottard as the sole representative, who would later become the future Belgian consul for the years of World War II. During the Civil War, the Belgian delegation also had a colony of children, who they fed.
Can Matas (Chile Consulate)
Chile tried to move its embassy from Madrid to Barcelona in March 1938, but failed due to the advance of Franco's troops through Aragon and the division of the republican territory in two by the conquest of the Ebro. This cut Catalonia off from the rest of the republican territory. Chile represented the interests of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Peru, after they severed ties with the government of republican Spain by recognising Franco's government.
Jorge Larenas Boltón assumed the position of itinerant consul, as he was in Bilbao, Valencia, Barcelona and Sant Andreu de Llavaneres, settling in the Torre de José Matas, also known as Can Matas or Casa Flores. He died in this house at the age of 38 on 11 January 1939.
Can Matas is a three-floor farmhouse with three bodies, restored at the beginning of the 19th century. Today, it houses a nursing home.
Castelldaura (Panama Embassy)
Looking for a spacious place for its asylum seekers, Panama set up its embassy headquarters on 1 March 1938 in Premià de Dalt, specifically in Castelldaura. It did so before other countries, which accelerated their relocation due to the bombing that Barcelona suffered in mid-March 1938. It therefore did so in time to find a good place and further away from the rest of the diplomatic delegations which set up in the Maresme shortly afterwards. The Castelldaura building, also known as Can Baltà or Villa Trias, is an eclectic building and farmhouse built in the 19th century at number 1 of the Carretera de Premià de Mar. The building has a ground floor, a first floor and an attic, with two side bodies and a flat roof with a balustrade, with a large garden.
Historical context:
During the course of the war, among the ever-growing dangers in the rearguard, one of the main ones was aerial bombing. Barcelona was the place in Catalonia that suffered most airstrikes, causing thousands of casualties. In fact, the bombing on 16, 17 and 18 March was particularly bloody, killing almost a thousand people, injuring many more and causing material damage. For this reason, many foreign diplomatic delegations decided to look for new safer places to establish their consulates and embassies. Many countries moved their delegations to different towns of the Maresme, and settled mostly in different homes, especially in the towns of Caldes d'Estrac, Sant Andreu de Llavaneres and Sant Vicenç de Montalt. In many cases, the estates were ceded as the headquarters of the permanent representation of the different States accredited before the Republic and the owners themselves remained in the buildings. The building therefore remained inviolable guaranteeing that there would be no destruction or bombing of it. Similarly, the diplomats could get much better residences and headquarters than they had ever had before.