Casa Muley-Afid in the Sarrià-Sant Gervasi neighbourhood of Barcelona, Catalonia. Built between 1911 and 1914 following the design by Josep Puig i Cadafalch.
This house was commissioned by Muley Hafid, also known as Abd al-Hafid of Morocco. He was the Sultan of Morocco from 1908 to 1912, when he signed the Treaty of Fez with France, which turned Morocco into a French protectorate, giving France de facto control of Morocco. Then, he abdicated in favour of his brother Yusef and briefly moved to France, before moving back to Morocco. When the First World War started, he moved to Barcelona (a neutral territory that was not participating in the war) and commissioned a house to one of the most famous Catalan architects of the moment. Muley Hafid lived in Barcelona from 1914 to 1918. To thank the city in his excentric fashion, he gifted an elephant to the Barcelona Zoo, which would later die during the Spanish Civil War. After 1918, he moved to France, where he died in 1937.
During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), this house, like many houses of the upper class that had fled, was given a social use. This one was used as an orphanage. Nowadays, it's the seat of the Mexican Consulate in Barcelona.
Photos by Bob Masters for Calaix.
