The Casino Society, known as the Young Lad’s Club, was founded in 1851 by a group of artisans in opposition to the Sant Feliu de Guixols Casino, otherwise called the Gentlemen’s Club, set up by an elite group of progressive thinkers. The latter group went through various fund-raising activities in order have sufficient economic means to build its own locale.
In the last quarter of the 19th century, the town of Sant Feliu de Guixols, along with other towns on the Costa Brava, was experiencing unusual growth, due to the burgeoning cork industry. In the last 40 years of the century, the population doubled in size, This growth is also reflected in the buildings of the town. The promenade became a space of privilege: casinos, banks, hotels and homes for the gentry were all constructed within a few years, following the architectural fashion of the time, early art nouveau “modernisme”.
In this context, the Casino la Constancia took on the task of constructing a building for its own club members. It was the work of General Guitard, who imagined a functional space, with spacious rooms, free of columns, allowing for conversation and reading, with a large central skylight to provide light and ventilation. For the exterior, Guitart opted for an Hispano-Arabic design language, which had gained much prestige at the Universal Exhibition of Barcelona in 1888. This design was accepted by the artisan’s club, for its exotic originality on the outside, whilst pleasingly functional inside.
It was built between 1888 and 1890, with three trapezoidal floors and facades, a ground floor, a first floor and an attic floor. It was located as a flagship building, which would dictate the development of a new line of buildings in front of an already-extant row of fisherman’s cottages. The new Casino was to function as a hinge between the Passeig del Mar and the Passeig dels Guixols. In 1899, the architect Manuel Vega I March was to plan an extension of the building, which it is how it now appears, adding a triple-domed tower, with a new facade in front of the old one. There was a final extension in 1928, which left the Casino as we now know it.
The Casino Society soon accumulated enough books to fill a library, and, in the new building, the collection occupied a dominant place. Many prominent individuals who visited the town, saw a visit to the reading room as a must. In 1930, the library had a catalogue of 2,552 books. By the end of the Civil War, the catalogue had been “purified”, and 48 titles had been removed. The rest are still there, but no more have been acquired since then.
In the 1970s, the facades of the seafront underwent a major transformation, with many buildings being demolished, including the Gentlemen’s Casino and other iconic properties, to make way for apartment blocks to meet the feverish demands of the tourist industry. But the Young Lad’s Casino was saved thanks to local activists and a petition demanding the preservation of the building. It was the beginning of the transition to democracy, and the expression of the fighting spirit of protest which had for so many years been repressed. Finally, in 1978, the Casino was listed as building of national cultural significance.
So today, you can still enjoy this symbol of 19th century artisanality and worker’s associations that is the Young Lad’s Casino, which has endured the years, thanks to the struggles of a combative society which cares for its heritage.
Traducció: Victòria Fernández i Tina Murlà
