Casa Adret

Casa Adret is one of the oldest habitable buildings in Barcelona. It is in the middle of “el Call”, the old Jewish quarter of Barcelona, where between the ninth century and fourteenth century, lived the Jews of Barcelona. Its last Jewish owner was called Astruc Adret, who was a Jew from Cervera and that he was the owner of this building in Barcelona. The exact date of construction of the house is not known, but it is probably from the early twelfth century.
Back in the day, the first floor was likely rented for some kind of craft or clothing workshop. The rest of the house was also rented to two Jewish families, something that is apparent thanks to the mezuzah holes that one can find in these two of the doors of the house. In Barcelona one can find 6 medieval mezuzah holes, two of which are in Casa Adret.

In 1391 a great pogrom took place in el Call, when denizens of Barcelona attacked the Jews who lived there. They were groups of local rioters who, following a tendency of the whole peninsula, entered el Call, beating and killing people, and destroying the neighborhood. Surviving Jews were forced to convert to Christianity, flee the country or die. In the case of Astruc Adret, he converted to Catholicism, changed his name to Lluís de Junyent and was forced to sell his properties, moving to the town of Falset. It is from this year, 1393, that we have the first document about this building. The document of forced sale of Lluis de Junyent to the merchant Miquel Marçal.

In the year 1428 there was a big earthquake in Barcelona. For that reason, the façade of Casa Adret and the building next to it are inclined towards each other, making the distance between the two extremely close in the upper levels.
From this point on little is known of what happens with this house, other than some of the uses it has had over time. During the 19th century there was a funeral parlor operating in the lower part of the house, called “La Palma”, along with a musical school.
In the 90’s the building, in a completely dilapidated state, was bought by Andreu Mas Colell, former Minister of Economy of the Generalitat, and Esther Zilberstein, his wife. In 2001 they commissioned two prestigious architects, Elias Torres and José Antonio Martinez Lapeña, to renovate the building. Since 2018 it has served as a Jewish cultural center and a hub for local Jewish organizations.