Cronologia
- 1846
15 December. Eusebi Güell i Bacigalupi is born in Barcelona. His mother, Francisca Bacigalupi i Dolcet, dies giving birth.
- 1852
25 June. Antoni Gaudí i Cornet is born in Baix Camp.
- 1860
The Eixample Plan by Ildefons Cerdà is approved. The wide streets designed by Cerdà become fashionable amongst the upper classes. The centre of Barcelona spread towards the north, leaving behind the Ciutat Vella district.
- 1869
Antoni Gaudí moves to Barcelona to study architecture.
- 1871
29 November. Eusebi Güell marries Isabel López i Bru (daughter of the Marquis and Marquise of Comillas). They move into Fonollar Palace (possibly the first-main floor), in Carrer de la Portaferrissa, no. 7-9, next to Moja Palace, residence of the Marquis and Marquise of Comillas. Subsequently, Güell tries to buy up the rest of the apartments in the building, occupied by a number of tenants. In the 1870s, Güell commissions a refurbishment of his apartments in Fonollar Palace from architect Camil Oliveras.
- 1872
Eusebi Güell's father, Joan Güell i Ferrer, dies. Eusebi Güell inherits residential buildings on La Rambla dels Caputxins (today numbers 35 and 37).
- 1878
Antoni Gaudí finishes his architecture degree in Barcelona.
- 1878
Eusebi Güell discovers Gaudí's work at the Paris World's Fair 1878 and, back in Barcelona, meets Antoni Gaudí at carpenter Eudald Puntí's workshop.
- 1883
Gaudí starts building the pavilions at the entrance to the Güell estate in Pedralbes, a commission from Eusebi Güell. Building is completed in 1887.
- 1883
July. Eusebi Güell buys number 3, Carrer Nou de la Rambla, later the site of Palau Güell.
- 1883-84
Gaudí starts building the Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família.
- 1884
Eusebi Güell and his family move to a family property on La Rambla, obliged to leave Fonollar Palace after losing a lawsuit brought against him by his neighbours. This house on La Rambla is later joined to Palau Güell by a passageway.
- 1885
Eusebi Güell commissions Gaudí to build the future Palau Güell, Gaudí's first important work.
- 1886
Gaudí starts building Palau Güell
- 1886
10 June. Plans for Palau Güell completed.
- 1886
July. Eusebi Güell buys number 5, Carrer Nou de la Rambla, later the site of Palau Güell.
- 1886
12 July. Plans are submitted to Barcelona City Council along with the application for planning permission signed by Güell.
- 1886
17 July. Municipal architect Antoni Rovira i Trias, head of the Buildings and Adornment Section, issues a technical report rejecting Palau Güell building project.
- 1886
24 July. Barcelona City Council Public Works Committee issues another report recommending that the municipal architect's report be rejected.
- 1886
27 July. The City Council finally approves Gaudí and Güell's Palau Güell building project in an ordinary session.
- 1886
15 October. Güell applies to the City Council for permission to demolish number 5 (number 3 had already been demolished and closed off by a fence).
- 1887
October. Eusebi Güell buys number 3, Carrer de Lancaster, a site later used to build the section of Palau Güell perpendicular to the rear facade. Thus it appears the Palace was built in two phases, although work was continuous.
- 1888
Barcelona Universal Exposition (or Barcelona World’s Fair) and opening of Palau Güell.
- 1890
Year in which building on Palau Güell is considered complete, since it becomes the subject of illustrated articles in the press.
- 1890
3 August. The newspaper La Vanguardia publishes two articles on Palau Güell, one signed with the initials I. P. (or J. P., Josep Puiggarí), and the other profusely illustrated and signed by Frederic Rahola.
- 1891
January and February. Reviews of Palau Güell are published in La Ilustración Hispanoamericana, issues 532 (11 January 1891), 533 (18 January 1891) and 535 (1 February 1891).
- 1892
4 August. Palau Güell is the venue for a performance of part of the opera Garraf, by Josep Garcia i Robles, with libretto by Ramon Picó i Campamar. It is performed again at Palau Güell on 25 October 1894 and 17 November 1911.
- 1894
To earn the respect of his neighbours, Eusebi Güell buys number 9, Carrer Nou de la Rambla (on the corner of Carrer de Lancaster, no. 1) and, later, numbers 5 and 7 of Carrer de Lancaster.
- 1894
Publication of Monografia de la Casa Palau y Museu del Excm. D. Eusebi Güell y Bacigalupi ab motiu de la visita oficial feta per lo “Centre” [Excursionista de Catalunya], by Josep Puiggarí (1894). An extremely detailed work, essential for all later studies of the building. Puiggarí describes most of the rooms in the Palace down to the last detail, including some of the colour schemes, although he does not include the bedroom floor, perhaps out of respect for privacy, but, also, possibly because the decorating on this floor was not complete, as proved by the date 1895 which appears on some wrought iron work in one of the main bedrooms.
- 1895
The finishing of the interior of Palau Güell, particularly the decoration, goes on until at least 1895, the date on the ornamental ironwork in Mr and Mrs Güell's bedrooms.
- 1895-1900
Antoni Gaudí designs Celler Güell in El Garraf in collaboration with Francesc Berenguer, under commission from Eusebi Güell.
- 1898
Eusebi Güell commissions Gaudí to design a church for the Güell Colony. In the following years, Gaudí draws up studies prior to the construction of the church, which is on two levels, the lower church or crypt and the main church, which was never completed.
- 1900
Eusebi Güell heads the Jocs Florals committee.
- 1900
Eusebi Güell commissions Gaudí to build Park Güell, a garden city project with sixty houses. Park Güell is a commercial failure and work stops in 1914.
- 1901
Eusebi Güell sets up Asland, a company making Portland cement.
- 1904
Gaudí designs a villa at the Catllaràs coal mine in La Pobla de Lillet, commissioned by Eusebi Güell.
- 1906
Gaudí buys Park Güell show house (which architect Francesc Berenguer began in 1902) and moves in with his father and his niece, Rosa Egea.
- 1908
King Alphonse XIII gives Eusebi Güell the title of Count Güell.
- 1910
Around 1910 Eusebi Güell and his family move into their mansion in Park Güell, where they spend more and more time as of 1906.
- 1914
Work on Park Güell stops.
- 1914
Gaudí stops directing work on the Güell Colony crypt and the restoration of the Cathedral of Santa Maria of Palma (in Majorca), and works only on the Sagrada Família.
- 1918
9 July. Eusebi Güell dies in his home in Güell Park. The chapel of rest is installed in Güell Palace, which now belongs to his wife (1850-1924) and then two of their daughters, Maria Lluïsa (1873-1933) and Mercè Güell i López (1889-1954). Later Mercè Güell becomes sole owner.
- 1926
7 June. Gaudí is run over by a tram. And dies three days later.
- 1935
The Güell family stops living in Palau Güell around 1935.
- 1935
Mercè Güell decides to rent out Palau Güell; a campaign against it starts in the city.
- 1936
Finally the Palace is not rented out and, with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the Government of Catalonia, the Generalitat, turns it into a police station. It is used as such until 1940.
- 1945
6 June. Mercè Güell, youngest daughter of Eusebi Güell and owner of Palau Güell, transfers the Palace to Barcelona Provincial Council in exchange for an annuity and on the condition that the building be preserved and used for cultural, scientific or artistic purposes, according to the deed of assignment.
- 1945-2011
Palau Güell has been used for a variety of purposes since it became the property of Barcelona Provincial Council. It was the site of the Institut del Teatre and of the Museum of Performing Arts. It has also undergone several restorations, the last from 2004 to 2011.
- 2011
Since May. Palau Güell reopened in May as a Barcelona Provincial Council museum.