La Fundació

The birth of Caixa Sabadell was motivated by the interest of a group of promoters, headed by Pere Turull Sallent, who intuited the role that a savings bank would play for the future development of the country and the city, the promotion of savings and its channeling through its own financial institution. The formalities began in 1858, and the following year, specifically on January 6, 1859, the Savings Bank of Sabadell was founded.

From its beginnings, Caixa Sabadell had the function of promoting savings among the popular classes, educating in the values inherent in bourgeois ethics, which gained a strong boost thanks to the industrial revolution of the 19th century.From the beginning, the activity of the entity was based on giving performance to the importers, who belonged mostly to the classes workers, while making possible the entity's own growth. This growth implied the search for new locations and the need to expand staff and schedules. Thus, in 1886 the construction of a new headquarters of the entity began, the current headquarters of the Sabadell 1859 Foundation. King Alfonso XIII was in charge of laying the first stone of this modernist jewel, the work of the architect Jeroni Martorell and known as the Palau de l'Esparvi, which was inaugurated in 1916.

In 1910 the building, also modernist, was built for the Industrial School of Arts and Crafts, which is currently the headquarters of the Espai Cultura of the Sabadell 1859 Foundation. Over time, economic reserves were generated that could become actions for the less favored sectors of society; these were the origins of the Obra Social de Caixa Sabadell.

In 1928, the Caixa Sabadell Library was founded, the first in the city of Sabadell and an important cultural reference among citizens. In 1930, the Book Festival was instituted on the occasion of Sant Jordi's Day, and even today the emotion of being children and going to the library to pick up a book during this festival when making an imposition - their first savings - remains alive in the memory of many Sabadellans. Later, in this spirit, the Sant Joan Novel Prize was established, which has become one of the annual emblematic events of Catalan culture.

Despite the general recession of the country during the post-war period, the local economy was experiencing a moment of dynamism. The city of Sabadell, however, did not have sufficient investments in infrastructure, housing, education and health care to meet the large mass of people coming mostly from southern Spain, attracted by the demand for labor from industry and construction. Caixa Sabadell tried to solve some of these shortcomings: health, childhood and old age were its main concerns. For this work, the City Council of Sabadell awarded him the Gold Medal of the City, in 1945.

The work of the Obra Social, intrinsic to the entity since its origins, crystallized during the 1960s in the Centre for Social Studies, the Children's Clinic of the Child Jesus, the nursing school, the acquisition of the forest and farmhouse of Can Deu to save them from real estate speculation or the realization of Catalan language courses for adults.

Since the mid-1990s, the Obra Social de Caixa Sabadell has devoted priority attention to actions of a health nature, carrying out a complementary work that distinguished the entity. The preferred areas of his performance at this time were social assistance, culture, training and research and the environment.

The main facade of the building is solved by the composition of three bodies of similar width. The central body, which protrudes from the facade line, is topped with a profile pediment drawn with slightly curved lines that can be inscribed in an equilateral triangle, which, when protruding in height from the side bodies, denotes the slopes of the roof.

The solemnity of the entrance to the building is configured, on the ground floor, by a set of three arches: one central and two others on the sides. They are separated by robust columns with a sculpted shaft and capital and, on the first floor, by a large window with three lobed arches with a sculpture on each side and a large balcony supported by robust permoduli. The lateral bodies are simpler, despite the diverse and careful design of the openings, designed to break the symmetry that the central body imposes. The entire facade is unified by the cornice drawn at the level of the balcony slab, by the worked wrought iron grilles and by the use of stone as the main building material. Among the elements that make it up, the following stand out:

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  The capitals of the entrance arches, sculpted with vegetable, floral themes and figures representing traditional occupations; on the right, the reaper, the baker, the peasant and the pointer, and on the left, the seamstress, the spinner, the potter, and the blacksmith. They are the work of the sculptor Eusebi Arnau i Mascort (Barcelona 1864-1934) from 1906.
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  Allegorical sculptures of work and virtue, made by the sculptor Josep Llimona i Bruguera (Barcelona, 1864-1934), in 1908.
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  The key to the entrance arch and the relief, located in the body on the right of the facade, sculpted respectively with the symbolic motifs of the piggy bank and the book, representing savings and culture.
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  The false gargoyles in the shape of a lobster.
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  The design and work of wrought iron gratings.
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  Allegorical reliefs to traditional male and female work, and with marked references to saving and reading made by the sculptor Sebastià Badia in 1952.

The ground floor is structured from two spaces located one after the other following the longitudinal axis of the building. These spaces are: the old main hall and the Turull courtyard.The current operations yard is the result of the renovation and enlargement works of the main hall of the building, carried out in 1952 and 1964. This space, with a floor plan of three naves separated by columns and covered by cross vaults supported by arches, communicated the street with the interior of the building and served as access to the spaces most open to the public, such as the Library and the offices, located, respectively, on their sides.

The main lobby of the original building can be recognized today in the columns with the capitals sculpted with plant themes by the sculptor Josep M. Barnadas i Mestres (Barcelona 1867 — Alella 1939), the arches, the cross vaults with sgraffito on the underside and on the buttresses of the side walls converted into pilasters by the reforms.

From the operations yard, and through a space presided over by two high columns that support a metal beam arranged like a tar, you can access the Turull patio. This space, square in plan and with walls that reach up to the roof, where they support a skylight of the same size as the floor, is still today the main nucleus of the building with regard to the practical functions of ventilation and lighting, and the symbolic functions of communication between the space open to the public and the one with the most restricted access, with the offices management rooms, the Sala del Consell and the Modernist Hall. Its design brings it closer to the courtyards of Catalan palaces of the Gothic era, with the majestic staircase traced to one side.

In its center, and with a perspective from the operations yard following the central axis of the building, stands the monument dedicated to Pere Turull i Sallent, the main promoter of Caixa Sabadell, drawn as an honorary column on a pedestal, which gives the Turull patio the characteristics of an urban space. Of the elements located in this space it is worth highlighting:

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  The wide and leisurely stone staircase of two sections, the first uncovered and the second sheltered under vaults supported by a series of columns and rampant arches.
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  The stonework on the columns, capitals and stair railing.
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  Wrought iron lanterns.
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  The stained glass skylight, renovated in 1966 with those from the roof of the old Library.
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  The stucco and sgraffito on the walls and the vaults of the staircase, with geometric and floral themes and motifs that symbolize economy and culture.
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  The monument to Pere Turull i Sallent, made according to the project of Jeroni Martorell. The allegorical figures are the work of the sculptor Manuel Fuxà i Leal (Barcelona 1850-1927) and the bust that crowns the honorary column of the also sculptor Ismael Smith i Marí (Barcelona 1886 — New York 1972).
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  The bronze plaques commemorating the creation of Caixa Sabadell, placed in 1934, the year of the celebration of its 75th anniversary, as well as the marble plaque commemorating the 150th anniversary of the entity, discovered by the Princes of Asturias.

The staircase of the Turull patio leads to the first floor, and you enter the living room through a decorated room, framed by a large lowered arch. The architecture of the Modernist Hall forms a large and luminous space of three naves separated by columns and parabolic arches. The central nave is longer, wider and higher than the side naves, which allows light to penetrate through wide windows open to the side walls and which protrude from the roofs covering the side naves.

The gable roof of the central nave is supported by parabolic arches, which, drawn transversely to the axis of the nave and braced by the absence of lateral buttresses, transmit the loads to the columns.

The greater length in plan of the central nave with respect to the sides, and the use of a wall supported by arches and pilasters, which closes at half height the central space near the tester, configures its headboard, a space of smaller proportions where the presidency is located. On the opposite floor, and above the access room to the Hall, there is a grandstand from which, and through a large opening of three arches, there is a direct view of the imposing central nave. In the Modernist Salon, relevant examples of applied arts are manifested, such as:

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  The columns of marble and limestone with the capitals sculpted with floral themes and symbolic motifs of savings and culture.
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  The sgraffito of the arches, the forging work of the iron struts and the relief decoration of the ceiling, which integrates the whole set as if it were a single element.
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  The paving of marble slabs and mosaic samples with floral themes and heraldic and symbolic motifs of economy and culture, made in the Roman style by the house Mario Maragliano Navone.
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  The set of three stained glass windows in the headboard, painted by fire with allegorical compositions from commerce, industry and argriculture, and the rosette of stained-glass windows of abstract composition, made by the house H.J. Maumejean.
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  The set of five stained glass windows in the access room to the Hall, painted on fire with allegorical compositions from Catalonia and the representation of characters with King Jaume I, Archbishop Torres Amat of Palou and the enlightened economist Antoni de Capmany i de Montpalau, made by the house Rigalt i Cia. according to the drawings of the painter J. Pey and Farriol (Barcelona 1875-1956).
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  The floral composition that frames the coat of arms of the city in the set of three stained glass windows of the tribune.
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  The floral compositions of the stained glass windows of the side openings of the central nave and the main facade.
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  The stucco and sgraffito with floral themes and allegorical representations of the sciences and the arts.
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  The pictorial compositions of the painter and engraver Ricard Marlet i Saret (Sabadell 1896 — Matadepera 1976), in 1943, which fill the moulded spaces between arches and represent the activities of the Obra Social.