El Nacional

A place full of history, El Nacional is located in Passeig de Gràcia. Built in 1870 as a café and modernist theatre it has also been a textile factory prior to using it as a food collection point for food after the Spanish Civil War. The stunning interior design was carried out by Barcelona based  Violán Lázaro Rosa, who has managed to reinterpret the modernist architecture to recreate the swinging decades of the 30s and 40s while generating a contemporary atmosphere with roots to local tradition.

With capacity for 770 diners, the dining spaces employs around 200 cooks and waiting staff and consist of 4 restaurants, 4 bars covering 3,500 m square of which the public have access to  2,400 m square. The huge covered space is divided into three main islands with the main meeting points being the four restaurant areas and a cocktail bar. There are also two lofts located on top of meat and fish restaurants and a gourmet shop.

The 8m high , 3,500 m2 landmark building is an industrial construction built in last third of the nineteenth century,  between two twin Neo-Mudejar buildings by Antoni Rovira i Trias built in 1870. Fire destroyed the original building which was later demolished and rebuilt by Ramón M. Riudor in 1892. Document dated 1989 reveal that the space was opened as dining theatre known as the Teatro Español between 1870 and 1900. The industrial scale structure is made with 15 vaults known in Catalan as "volta" similar to architect Rafael Guastavino, who in 1881 patented this design and successfully exported it to the United States.

© El Nacional / Rupert Eden