October 2022 digital edition

GAUDI BUILT
LA SAGRADA
FAMILIA FOR
GOD, BUT HE
DESIGNED
LA OBRERA
COOPERATIVA
MATARONENSE
FOR HUMBLE
WORKERS AND
THEIR FAMILIES
q La Obrera
Cooperativa
Mataronense (Image:
ESM/CC BY-SA 4.0)
commemoration of the 100th anniversary of his
death. No doubt, Gaudi will feel his life on Earth
was of use if he sees God is pleased with the
completed La Sagrada Familia.
In 1915, Gaudi said, “My good friends are
dead; I have no family and no clients, no fortune
nor anything. Now I can dedicate myself entirely
to the Church.”
As La Sagrada Familia began to take form,
Gaudi became consumed by the thought of
fulfilling his legacy. Earlier in his life, Gaudi had
been a young, fashionably dressed bon vivant.
As years went by, his growing pious Catholicism
played such an increasingly large role in his
daily life that he became an aesthete, wearing
clothes until they were threadbare. From 1925
on, Gaudi slept nightly in a cot in the crypt below
La Sagrada Familia.
It’s possible that Gaudi’s strong commitment to
Catholicism might have been what accidentally
led to his death at age 73. On 7 June 1926, he left
his studio at La Sagrada Familia to go for his
daily walk to a nearby church for mass. While
crossing the street, he was knocked over by a
tram. Because he was elderly, and resembled
a penniless beggar, he was dragged away from
the tram tracks and left seriously injured on the
pavement without receiving any assistance.
With no identification on him, Gaudi lay
unconscious for hours until some persistent
Samaritans implored a Guardia Civil to
commandeer a taxi to take him to a hospital,
where he received limited care. By the time his
colleagues found him, his serious condition had
deteriorated so badly that additional care was
fruitless and he died. Days later, the citizens of
Barcelona bid farewell to him in the Chapel of
our Lady of Mount Carmel within the crypt of La
Sagrada Familia.
And, yes, Gaudi built La Sagrada Familia for
God, but he designed La Obrera Cooperativa
Mataronense for humble workers and
their families. His inspiring, gracious and
unforgettable architecture honoured both his
clients here on earth and above in heaven.
David J Thompson is one of the most published
writers in the USA about the co-operative sector.
He has visited a number of Gaudi’s buildings
in Barcelona and written about Spanish cooperatives.
He has an MA in architecture and
urban planning from the University of California
at Los Angeles where he was given the Dean’s
Award for Community Service. He is president
of the Twin Pines Cooperative Foundation and
a member of the US Cooperative Hall of Fame.
David has written and contributed to a number of
books and over 400 articles about cooperatives.
See npllc.org and community.coop
48 | OCTOBER 2022