In what year did Antoni Gaudí take over the construction of the Sagrada Família? 1883.
Construction of the Sagrada Família began on 19 March 1882 under architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. Villar resigned the following year after disagreements about the project, and Gaudí assumed responsibility for the design in 1883. He radically reworked the original Gothic Revival concept.
Gaudí began working on the church in November 1883 and was formally appointed Architect Director in March 1884. This explains why some accounts mention 1884: it was the year of his formal appointment, while the broader handover and takeover occurred in 1883.
The distinction matters because Gaudí did not merely continue Villar’s plan. He transformed the church into a vast symbolic structure with elaborate façades, branching columns, geometric vaults, and eighteen planned towers. He devoted the later part of his life increasingly to the basilica and was buried in its crypt after his death in 1926.