The Gran Hotel Soller
The stunning building that houses the Gran Hotel sits in the heart of Soller and makes everyone wonder at its history. These days a fine hotel with elegance and attention to detail guaranteed but what of its past? In my early Soller days the grounds of the Gran Hotel was a public swimming pool and the building was semi derelict. Those days have long gone and now it is the five star city centre hotel beloved of many.
Let me introduce you (courtesy of the historian Miquel Ferra I Martorell and the Majorca Daily Bulletin) to Mallorca ’s brilliant architect – Joaquin Pavia Birmingham.
He came to Mallorca in 1881 to take up the post of Baleares Provincial Architect having studied at the Madrid University School of Architecture. His job was to check all the plans for public buildings but his heart was in design. The council of Majorca is housed in a palace which Pavia designed in 1882 which has huge English influences of the era. His mother was English and it is said that his style was influenced by his visits and studies of the English style of architecture of the time.
Pavia Birmingham was responsible for many fine buildings in Mallorca . Amongst them The Gran Hotel in Soller whose turrets and gargoyles owe their existence to him. The Gran Hotel was commissioned by the Soller businessman Ramon Casanovas and was a leather factory and a symbol of Soller’s industrial past.
His work touched many areas of Majorca and left a legacy of fine buildings. Palma ’s Miscordia with its vast courtyard, terrace and chapel in a Palladian neo- classical style. The church in Calvia with its very English elements which have been compared to St Pauls Cathedral in miniature.
Pavia Birmingham left Mallorca in 1896 after 15 years of prolific, unique architectural design which remain today. No wonder architectural students visit Soller and other places tracing his steps.
Visit the Gran Hotel in Soller – stop awhile to enjoy their hospitality and marvel at such a beautiful building at the heart of our City.
