The transformation of Bon Pastor continues with the demolition of the last cheap houses that have been a symbol of the neighbourhood for almost a century. These were single-storey houses of around 60 square metres, some of which housed as many as 11 people, according to local residents.
Recalling those times, they all agree that life in the neighbourhood was very different from what it is today, referring to the environment and the relationship between them. They remember the Sant Joan celebrations around a long table that went from one end of the street to the other, that there were never any problems and that the children played and had fun with everything. There are those who feel sad when they see the rubble because it is the end of a cycle of life and although there was a lot of poverty, the people were happy, they say. As for the renovation, they say it will give the neighbourhood a new image and everything will be much nicer.
This is the fifth and final phase of the great transformation that Bon Pastor is undergoing. When it is finished, more new homes will be planned. So far, the apartments that have replaced the cheap houses have been built in the streets of Alfarràs, Biosca, Claramunt, Novelles and Salomó, on the passeig de Mollerussa and in the Lluita per les llibertats square.
The history of the cheap houses of Bon Pastor
Let us take a trip back in time to the 1920s. Those were the years when Barcelona received immigrants, attracted by the construction of the metro and the Universal Exhibition of 1929. Due to the lack of housing, they had to live in substandard dwellings on the outskirts of the city. To solve this problem, in 1927 the Barcelona City Council created the Barcelona Housing Board, the predecessor of the Barcelona Municipal Institute of Housing and Renovation (IMHAB).
A year later, in 1928, the council authorised the construction of the first public housing: cheap houses. There were four groups of houses, including the group of cheap houses of Bon Pastor, then called Milans del Bosch and, during the Republic, Bonaventura Carles Aribau. The houses, completed in 1929, had three bedrooms, a kitchen-dining room, a toilet and a laundry room. Initially the area belonged to Santa Coloma de Gramenet until 1945, when it was given to Barcelona.
Later, in 1958, the construction of 761 houses was authorised in the southern zone of the cheap houses, as a result of the adaptation of the Social Emergency Plan. Years later, the small houses were declared unsuitable because of their condition and because they were considered a waste of land.
Between 1981 and 1994, the Barcelona Housing Board carried out renovation work, and in 2002 a special plan was drawn up to demolish the cheap houses in order to build officially protected housing. The first keys were handed over four years later.
Since then, around ten developments have been built and nearly 600 families in the neighbourhood have benefited from the houses. A building with fifty flats is currently under construction and another with more than a hundred is planned. Although the neighbourhood lacks the essence of the old houses, the improvement in conditions and quality of housing is evident.
A place to remember
In fact, not all of the cheap houses were demolished, as 10 were preserved and turned into a museum, the MUHBA Bon Pastor.
This museum space was inaugurated last year and its aim is to preserve the memory of these characteristic houses and show the evolution of housing in Barcelona throughout history.
Entrance is free and you can visit the exhibitions entitled ‘Living in Cheap Houses. Bon Pastor, 1929-2010’ and ‘Accommodating the majority. Barcelona, 1860-2010’. Visitors will be able to learn more about the struggle for housing in the city, how people lived in Bon Pastor and discover the evolution of the interiors of the houses since they were built until 2010.