Carrer Aiguafreda

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Carrer Aiguafreda

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This street maintains its fin-de-siècle charm in the lavoirs it preserves. It was where the “washerwomen’s houses” use to be, for washing the clothes of wealthy families.

Urban spaces

In the past, the wells located at the residential properties along this street provided water for the washing troughs that can still be seen today. It was in the ‘wash-houses’ that the women washed the clothes of not just their own household but of others’ too, as an extra source of income. So Horta had a domestic laundry industry – basically for wealthy Barcelona families who could afford to pay for the work that couldn’t be done at home – from the beginning of the 17th century until well into the 20th. Dirty washing transported by road would be reach Horta on a Monday and return to Barcelona clean on the following Saturday.

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