Overview

To cope with the exponential expansion outside the city's medieval walls, Ildefons Cerdà developed a new city plan in 1850: a grid structure of vertical and horizontal streets that formed squares when they crossed. Cerdà wanted to build residential accommodation in these square blocks and have communal yards in the middle with gardens where children could play. This part of the plan was sadly never accomplished, but the original design gives the blocks plenty of light. L'Eixample was built between 1860 and 1920, coinciding with the boom in Modernist architecture that is well represented here. The district is divided between the Dreta de L'Eixample (The Right) and the Esquerra de L'Eixample (The Left).