The memory of many Barcelonans still places the Isabelline-style arcaded buildings located in front of the Pla de Palau as the old bazaar area where several generations bought appliances, watches and other modernities of the time. But the slow commercial decline of this offering gave way a few years ago to a essentially gastronomic relay that has already reached its limit (no more licenses are given) and has been consolidated, with the creation of the active association Porxos del Port determined that visitors enjoy this hedonistic route. They warn that the effort of these years, however, is threatened by the municipal policies of mobility that imply the reform of Via Laietana and the imminent cut of the covid terraces in its streets.
The limits of this emerging area are drawn by four islands of buildings, some as an architectural legacy that Indians enriched in America would leave in the Catalan capital. The Xifre House, commissioned by Josep Xifré, was built between 1836 and 1840 –the work of Josep Buixareu and Francesc Vila–, on the block between Paseo de Isabel II and Calle Reina Cristina, Llauder and Pla de Palau. On its ground floor is the charismatic restaurant 7 portsand its characteristic porches, which together, like those of the neighboring block of the family Vidal-Quadras mark the singularity of this urban corner, located between the hustle and bustle of Born and Barceloneta.
In the establishment of Francesc Sole Parelladawho is also president of the entity and this year will commemorate the 185 years of your business, Numerous photos and drawings illustrate the evolution of the area. From a bourgeois nucleus for strolling and relaxing for decades, to a popular area for dealing in new arrivals from the black market port in the postwar period, until it was consolidated as an electronics and jewelry trade zone in the 1960s. Until the fierce competition from the online sale annihilated the bazaars and forced the reconversionmore than a decade ago, after a sad period of lowered blinds.
New stages and changes of direction
district sources old city point out that in its 2013 use plan this area was considered “special treatment” and it was actively promoted that there be restoration, after its commercial crisis. Since then there has been a progressive disembarkation of operators, which currently has 17 restaurants and the conversion of boarding houses into hotels. Since 2018, the new use plan began to consider the entire district as a single area (except La Rambla), and given the saturation of restoration activities, so many restrictions were imposed for new openings that in practice they are almost impossible. As to terracesthe same regulations apply as in the rest of the downtown neighbourhoods.
Solé points out that the association integrates the restoration but also the institutions and companies of the environment (the Llotja, the Faculty of Nautical Sciences, Tech Barcelona...) with the common goal of revitalize the area and make it known among citizens. In fact, although tourists arrive who stroll towards Barceloneta or get off the Tourist Bus to explore the sea area, recent initiatives such as La Cuina del Port (a tapas route at a fixed price) have confirmed that good part of the influx, at least half, is local. “We want the people of Barcelona to know that there is a good and very varied offer here” (from shellfish restaurants such as Carballeira and the sandwiches of the famous Can Paixano, passing through La Barra del 7 Portes –for dishes–, the sailor Cadaqués, the Mexican Oaxaca , The green Spot, The hidden Japanese, Arousa, the Maracaibo Bar and cocktail bar…) and discover the area, its history and heritage legacy. One of their hotels H10 Port Vell, It also has a panoramic and affordable terrace.
For this, they carry out informative activities, such as tapas twice a year, and other initiatives during the Christmas period. They also want to promote a bone scan of the area, to find out for sure how many neighbors reside (the blocks include hotels, a seasonal apartment block and offices) and what their needs and challenges are.
More institutional support
This effort to compact and relaunch the area contrasts with the institutional obstacles, they lament The most obvious affects the terraces, since the licenses were very restrictive in the pedestrian streets of the two interior streets that intersect. During the pandemic they were extended with extraordinary permits (the so-called ‘covid terraces’), but the city council is denying the vast majority of requests for continuity in this district, as this newspaper reported a few days ago. This is one of the particularly affected areas.
group sources sagardi, with several establishments on this axis and in neighboring Born, criticize this heavy hand, considering that the current offer (with the ‘extra’ tables still not removed) is still “moderate” in relation to public space and pedestrian traffic in area. On the contrary, the nightstands and drums with stools in the street are key for the area to work in the summer season, they defend.
Solé stresses that another of his concerns is the effects on the mobility which implies the reform of the Via Laietana, as a key artery to reach the area. “If we want people to come and visit us from the rest of the city and Catalonia, the connections have to be easy, we can’t be isolated,” he complains. The entity demands that the district and the Commerce area take into account the damage that all urban decisions can do to their activity.
The Porxos del Port are aligned in Open Barcelonawhich brings together the axes of the most central or tourist areas and which has brought to justice the transformation of Via Laietana, which will lose traffic lanes.
The history of the buildings
The Xifre House It is considered one of the most interesting samples of Barcelona’s neoclassical bourgeois architecture. Josep Xifré, a wealthy Indian, had a set of ten independent houses built, each with its own staircase and central patio, linked by the porticoes on the Pla de Palau and Paseo de Isabel II façades. As decorative elements, the representations of Commerce, Industry, the Navy, Mercury, Neptune and America that Marià Campeny sculpted in the corners of the façade stand out.
This set opened the season, but in 1839 the Vidal-Quadras brothers, who had made their fortune in Cuba, bought a plot of land on Paseo de Isabel II at auction and commissioned Antoni Rovira Riera to build a building in the style of the former. The 1842 construction occupies an entire block, with a ground floor, three floors, an attic and a roof terrace. On the ground floor, porches were built consisting of 13 arcades plus one on each side. Five years after its construction, the family opened the Casa de Banca Vidal-Quadras. Currently, the ground floor has restaurants and cocktail bars, while the apartments have seasonal rentals.
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