The first water tower in the Eixample

The engineer Ildefons Cerdà's master plan for the new city district, the Eixample, extended the city beyond its medieval walls. With its strict grid pattern and blocks with chamfered corners, it has become a model for town planning around the world. When the plan was approved in 1859, Barcelona City Council did not make any provisions for supplying this new part of town with water. The developers of the first block had to pay out of their own pockets to bring running water to the apartments.

In 1867, a well was dug inside the communal green space included in the Cerdà Plan inside a residential block between the streets of Roger de Llúria, Consell de Cent, Bruc and Diputació. In 1870, the Eixample water owners' association purchased the site and raised the height of the tower to improve water pressure and its distribution. The water was pumped by a steam engine to a 730 m3 tank on top of the tower.

In the 20th century, the tower became obsolete and no longer supplied the area with water. In 1987, Barcelona City Council opened a public garden inside the block. The chimney and boiler house were demolished to make way for a public swimming pool which used the groundwater from the site. The pool, which the locals nicknamed "Eixample beach", closed in 2019.

The water tower stands 24 metres high and its perfectly balanced structure, made of exposed brick, is an exceptional witness to the origins of Barcelona's Eixample as well as the most eye-catching feature in the gardens that have become a well-loved community space.