How Cerdanya became the 'summer palace' of the Catalan bourgeoisie

Getting to this spectacular valley was, in the middle of the s. XIX, a real feat. They say that the doctor and pharmacist Salvador Andreu had arrived on the back of a donkey when he accompanied his father, the notary Rafael Andreu Tramullas, to the Font Romeu sanatorium to treat his asthma. Dr. Andreu was one of the first tourists to Cerdanya, he fell in love with its landscape, its dry and sunny climate and, already married to Carmen Miralles, decided to settle down. He then bought all the land on the part that faces France around Lake Puigcerdà and built his house there, a modernist tower that he commissioned from the architect Emili Sala, with two tennis courts, a bowling alley and a leafy garden, where, from 1887, he spent the summers with the family.

In those early days, the trip, by train to Ripoll, and the rest by stagecoach, could last two days. “Later, my great-grandparents would settle there for three months with their six children and the service. But the great-grandmother, to whom she could, would go to Paris and leave them all there. She was young and free-spirited, delicious”, says Lali Graells, descendant of the third generation of this family.

The 'rovell d'ou'

Next to the lake, Germán Schierbeck, consul of Denmark, and other important Catalan families settled down, the Volart, the Bufill, the Buxareu…

The summers were mild, horseback riding, picnics, boat rides on the lake and, above all, music. At Andreu's house everyone played an instrument, Salvador the harmonium, his wife the harp, the daughters, Carmen, Madronita and Paquita, the harp and the piano. The composer José Vallcorba was their teacher, they were also taught by Enric Granados who spent time with them in the summer.

Germán Schierbeck, Consul of Denmark in Barcelona, ​​and other important Catalan families, the Volarts, the Bufills, the Buxareus, had also settled by the lake, all of them owners of beautiful modernist-style houses, with large gardens surrounded by magnificent walls and bars that are still preserved.

This group, together with Casa Mata, constitutes the old guard of the old Puigcerdà. The brothers Juan and Lorenzo Mata Pons, who had family roots in Das, arrived in Puigcerdà in 1881, acquiring an extensive estate right next to the border with France, and building there a fantastic summer tower with a sophisticated English garden and well-kept interiors. .

"Juan, my great-grandfather, married to Juana Juliá, had five children," says Pepe Mata. Years later, in 1924, one of them, José, my grandfather, since there was no room for him in his parents' house, bought Mas Florensa”, a few meters from the French border. He unified his two farmhouses, creating an important farm and a house that he used as a summer residence. In 1927, since he and most of his friends were very fond of horseback riding, he built a polo field on his farm, where elegant tournaments were held.

the golf district

The golf championships were played on the small course that Felipe Bertrán Güell had built on his land

Added to the Polo tournaments were the golf championships that were played on the small field that Felipe Bertrán Güell had built on his land, located on the sunny side of the valley, a completely bare area, without trees, called Pla de la Bad Mort. To irrigate it, he built a huge reservoir of water that he bought from the Gerd canal, over the years, it had become an orchard. He began to urbanize the lower part, touching the main road, and went up. In the highest area he made the Real Club de Golf de la Cerdanya, a private golf course with 9 short holes, which was inaugurated by King Alfonso XIII shortly before he went into exile. "My father also built a hotel that his friends frequented and they all ended up buying plots to build their summer residences - says Juan Antonio Bertrán - they were simple houses, Swiss chalet type, very far from the native architecture in concept, but they adapt well in this climate."

This is where the current golf district was born, which marked a new stage in the history of summer holidays in Cerdanya by moving the epicenter of Puigcerdà to Pla de la Mala Mort. "With the arrival of the car, it was no longer necessary to be in the center, but just in case, my father organized a bus that, in the morning, took the staff to buy Puigcerdà", narrates Juan Antonio Bertrán.

The houses were completely closed during the winter, and in the summer, they had to be built from scratch. The children, the service personnel and the trunks with all the clothes, used to move by train. The most daring traveled by car along the Collada de Tosas, which in those days was not even paved, “I have even crossed it in a Ford T with two or three cans of water to pour along the road. It was extremely dangerous, because from so many cars passing through the same place it had very pronounced potholes”, says Juan Antonio Bertrán.

Confiscated and burned houses

The beginning of the war, on July 18, 1936, surprised many vacationers in Cerdanya. The next day, they were all in France

The start of the war, on July 18, 1936, surprised many vacationers in Cerdanya, some friend from the town of Puigcerdà begged them to leave because they were coming for them. The next day, they were all in France. The Andreu family closed the house and went out like any other day on an excursion, only with what they were wearing, the convertible cars and the picnic baskets. They did not return for three years. Most of the vacationers' houses were confiscated and ended up bombed or burned. That happened with Casa Mata, and it was never rebuilt again. “Mas Florensa was saved because it was an agricultural exploitation – says Pepe Mata – my grandfather inherited it, it later passed on to his children and we then divided it among all his descendants. It's still intact."

As for the houses in the Golf neighborhood, they were all burned. “After the war, my father bought them again -says José Felipe Bertrán- and taking advantage of a national reconstruction loan, he rebuilt them and sold them again to other vacationers, that is, he built the urbanization twice. The golf course was also being sold by plots, in the end there was no room left.”

The island of Portlligat, the wild paradise of the Sentís family in Dalí's fiefdom

Mas Aransó, a house with 40 suites

Recreation of politicians, soldiers, musicians, businessmen, intellectuals, aristocrats...

“Pepe Andreu, my grandfather, had inherited the big house on the lake, but his mother and sisters were there with all their children, so in 1934 he decided to buy Mas Aransó – says Salvador Andreu, great-grandson of Dr. Andreu – At the end of the war, since his sisters already had several pieces of land around the lake that their father had donated to them, he converted the big house into a hotel and he moved to Mas Aransó.” To the old Mas he added a patio and new building bodies, a house for the peasants who took care of the agricultural and livestock exploitation, and built a huge tower, original and unique in its style, for his guests, with a pediment, swimming pool, tennis courts, gym, ping-pong, billiards and bridge rooms, stables with horses, and space for kitchens and service personnel in the upper part. The new Mas Aransó was inaugurated in 1947. “The grandfather was rather serious and very hard-working, but he liked to be surrounded by people. He always lived in the Oldest, the big house he built for his children and his children's friends. Politicians, soldiers, musicians, businessmen, intellectuals, aristocrats... a variety of people stayed there. The mix was interesting and the house had tremendous vibrancy.”

The 50s and 60s were powerful. New families arrived with illustrious surnames such as the Godó, Güell, Riviére, Bertránd and Serra, Fabra, Count of Egara, Daurella, Rosal, Valls, Vilá and others. Very good houses that became part of this exclusive summer colony.

At the end of the 1960s, Pepe Andreu began promoting the La Devesa residential complex, a project by the architect Antonio Bonet Castellana, located in the surroundings of the new golf course that Andreu had financed.

Blooming 60's

In addition to the usual sports, swimming pools became fashionable; in the houses of the golf district there were several

Summers continued to be eminently sports, horseback riding, long walks, golf championships and, in those years, swimming pools became fashionable; in the houses of the golf district there were several, the competition was strong, but those of the Rivière, Godó or Daurella were the preferred ones. In the afternoons, the meeting place was Mas Aransó, and in the evenings, occasional parties and gala dinners were organized in the halls of the Hotel del Golf and the Chalet del Golf.

Starting in 1950, international tournaments were organized at the Real Club de Golf, such as the Spanish Open, or the Spain-England Match, attended by top-class foreign players, and the Conde de Godó Trophy, a test prestigious amateur, glamorized the end of the summer season.

“When we were 16 years old, we would go on horseback all over La Cerdanya, there was nothing but forests, it was a true paradise. From our house we could see the Collada, there were no cars either, when we saw some lights we knew that our father was coming. Everything was lonely – remember José Felipe and Juan Antonio Bertrán Caralt. Now Cerdanya is no longer what it used to be, the opening of the Cadí Tunnel has given way to mass tourism, the road has become too small, but those who arrive are delighted. We, of our generation, are the only witnesses of how it was before and how it has changed.”