A neighbourhood that grew up around the Cases Barates (“cheap houses”) built there in 1929, Bon Pastor began to become firmly established in the 1960s. This modest, working-class neighbourhood was marginalised as a result of institutional indifference. Nevertheless, Bon Pastor has left its difficult beginnings behind to become an open, dynamic neighbourhood that very much looks to the future.
The Cheap Houses
In 1929, in application of the Cheap Housing Act, a total of 784 houses were built on this area of farmland (which did not then belong to Barcelona). These single-storey houses, measuring 40 square metres, were sold or let to immigrants from other parts of Spain, slum-dwellers and other poor people, providing accommodation for up to 3,000 residents. They were built on land that was affected by water-level fluctuations and were practically left to their fate. For this reason and despite the regeneration of the neighbourhood, we can still find examples here of popular architecture from the time when the residents repaired their houses and streets themselves.
Children of Bon Pastor
Bon Pastor has now been fully integrated into the district and the city. It has social, health, educational and sports facilities and, since 2010, its own metro station. The writer Jorge Larena and the footballer Sergio García are proud sons of the neighbourhood, and the musical trio Rumba Tres, who have been playing for 40 years, alsoemerged from the Cheap Houses, along with one of the neighbourhood’s best known
activists, Salvador Angosto.
Cultural heritage
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Sant Andreu
el Bon Pastor
- Address:
- C Estadella, 65
- Districte:
- Sant Andreu
- Neighborhood:
- el Bon Pastor
- City:
- Barcelona
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