"If I had designed Casa Mila I wouldn't sleep well at night",
said of of Gaudi's colleagues. The building with its strange
undulating facade has come to known as La Pedrera (Stone Quarry).
To build Casa Mila the entire block was completely bulldozed in 1906 by the wealthy businessman
Pedro Mila i Camps, who once remarked that he was less likely to run out of
cash for the costly project than of patience for the time it was taking
to finish (finally finished in 1910). Gaudi closely directed every element of
construction and decoration and was profoundly disappointed when the owner
rejected the crowning glory, which was to be a massive bronze sculptural group depicting the
Virgin of the Rosary flanked by archangles Gabriel and Michael. The gray stone
used to create the facae was from the Garraf and Penedes areas.
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