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Industry man and scion of a moneyed bourgeois family, lover of culture and of Barcelona, Eusebi Güell discovered Gaudí and sponsored his workIndustry man and scion of a moneyed bourgeois family, lover of culture and of Barcelona, Eusebi Güell discovered Gaudí and sponsored his work.
Eusebi Güell i Bacigalupi (1846-1918), son of Joan Güell, was an industry man and patron of the arts who enhanced his family's economic position. Partners with Ferran Alsina, in 1890 he transformed the family factory into a housing estate located in the city outskirts in Santa Coloma de Cervelló.
He diversified his father’s business interests, was manager of the Caixa d'Estalvis y Mont de Pietat de Barcelona savings bank and founded and oversaw insurance, railroad and cemetery companies such as Asland.
After his marriage in 1871 to Isabel López, daughter of Antonio López, Marquis of Comillas, he moreover played an active role in his wife's companies, the bank Banc Hispano-Colonial and the tobacco company Compañía de Tobacos de Filipinas.
In the cultural sphere, he is renowned for his sponsorship of the architect
Antoni Gaudí and of other figures such as the poet J. M. López-Pico or the novelist J. Pin i Soler.
Eusebi Güell was moreover active in politics. At different times he served as an alderman in Barcelona, a provincial representative and a senator.