Eusebi Güell
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Count Eusebi Güell (sometimes given in the hispanicized form Eusebio Güell, sometimes de Güell) was a Catalan patriarch who profited greatly from the industrial revolution in Catalonia, Spain in the late 19th Century.
Güell became a 'Mediciesque' patron to architect Antoni Gaudí. They met at the start of the latter's career and found that they had mutual interests, including religion (both were devout Catholics). Güell saw Gaudí as the man who could provide him with uniquely designed buildings.
Similar to Bourneville built by John Cadbury near Birmingham, England, Güell built a utopian town on the outskirts of Barcelona. This town contains one of Gaudí's great, and unfinished, works the crypt of the Colonia Güell.
Reportedly on one occasion Gaudí said to Güell, "Sometimes I think we are the only people who like this architecture." Güell replied, "I don't like your architecture, I respect it."[citation needed]
Güell was a great industrialist, but cheaper production methods elsewhere in Spain caused a slow but steady erosion of profit. Güell bought land in Barcelona and employed Gaudí to build an estate for the rich. However Gaudí's architecture was not very popular among the elite of his own time and place, and there were few takers: only two houses were built. In 1923, the Güell family gave the land to the city, as Park Güell. Inadvertently, this immortalised Güell as a great patron and benefactor to Barcelona.
Buildings by Gaudí that bear Güell's name:
