Finca Bellresguard

The Bellresguard estate, bought and developed by Romà Fabra i Puig and his wife Marcel·lina Monteys, is comprised of three different spaces:the manor (or palauet), the romantic garden or Lake Park, and the scenic viewpoint.

The manor, known as the Marquis’s House, was built between 1902 and 1904 as a summer home. The building has a French Neoclassical style and was designed by Barcelonan architect Salvador Vinyals i Sabaté.Commandeered to be the seat of the Confederal Experimentation Laboratory and later bombed during the Spanish Civil War, it passed into municipal hands in 1989. 

Lake Park, running alongside the estate, has a lovely central pond and a cove with a small waterfall. The viewpoint, close to the main road, has a long balustrade and magnificent sea views.

Romà Fabra i Puig came from a long line of politicians and industrialists linked to the Fabra i Coats spinning mills. He was a generous patron in the municipality and in 1922 King Alfonso XIII bequeathed him the title of Marquis of Masnou.

At present, the manor houses the Casa del Marquès Business Centre and Lake Park and the Bell Resguard scenic viewpoint are public parks.

[...]se bombardee y destruya Casa del Campo del Marqués de Masnous (sic) situada pueblo de Masnou en el ángulo W (oeste) formada por carretera Francia-Riera de Alella. Dista del mar 300 m. Separada por playa, f.c. y carretera. Casa está en el centro finca y punto más alto de pequeña colina 30 m. Sobre el nivel del mar. Construcción ladrillo rojo, tejado pizarra, gran escalinata, tres torreones, finca con mucho arbolado. Coordenadas 2 grados 29 m. 24 s. Longitud e.Greenwich 41º 28' 31’’.

Telegram sent by Franco to Mallorca on 27 September 1937. Excerpt from the Short History of the Civil War in Catalonia (2005) by Josep M. Solé Sabaté and Joan Villarroya.