Park Güell was Gaudí’s first attempt at a large-scale housing development. The project was commissioned by his patron, Count Eusebi Güell, as an exclusive residential estate on Barcelona’s Carmel Hill.
Güell envisioned a private garden city inspired by English models, with plots for affluent families, shared roads, landscaped areas, a marketplace, and expansive views over Barcelona. Gaudí designed the infrastructure and communal spaces, including the monumental entrance, the Hypostyle Room, the central terrace, viaducts, and distinctive ceramic details.
The ambitious development failed commercially because the remote, sparsely developed site attracted few buyers. Only two houses were ultimately built, and neither was designed by Gaudí. Gaudí later bought the show house, designed by his associate Francesc Berenguer, and lived there with his father and niece from 1906. The incomplete estate eventually became a public park, which is why visitors now see a famous landscape rather than a functioning neighborhood.