Comillas, Cantabria, Spain

Ceramic-Clad Cylindrical Tower and Porch Portico of El Capricho (Villa Quijano) by Antoni Gaudí

2062

Early Catalan Modernisme, Gaudí's Orientalist phase, 1883–1885

The cylindrical tower and ground-floor portico entrance of El Capricho (Villa Quijano) in Comillas, designed by Antoni Gaudí and constructed 1883–1885. The tower rises as a slender cylinder, its masonry core wrapped in a repeating grid of emerald green and bright yellow glazed ceramic tiles anchored in thick mortar beds. Deep red-framed rectangular windows punctuate the surface and an upper wrought-iron balcony railing is supported by ornate ceramic-clad corbels. Below, a covered ground-floor portico with carved stone columns provides a sheltered entrance sequence. The contrast between the repetitive ceramic tile grid and the warm horizontal banding of red brick establishes a vibrant visual rhythm that accentuates the tower's verticality.