Manuel Joaquim Raspall i Mayol

He began his artistic training by taking classes in drawing and sculpture from D. Talarn and in 1891 he attended the Barcelona School of Architecture where his teachers included L. Domènech i Montaner and A. Gallissà.
His first job, in 1903, was to renovate the family house in La Garriga, the town where he did a large part of his work. He qualified as an architect a year later and obtained the post of municipal architect in Cardedeu, followed, in subsequent years, by similar posts in other towns in Vallès Oriental.
Although a lot of the buildings he made were summer residences, there are also examples of his work in Barcelona, such as the renovation of Palau Mornau (1908; Ample, 35), Vil·la Helius (1909; Abadessa Olzet, 17), Casa Teixidor (1911; Ronda de Sant Pere, 16; now the Arense optician's shop) and the renovation of El Molino (1913; Vilà i Vilà, 99), which show his link to the Modernista aesthetic with the use of plenty of iron, mosaic and brick. In many of the buildings he constructed he designed the stained glass windows himself and had them made by Casa Oriach (see Oriach, Lluís). After 1913 he evolved towards a more sober architecture closer to Noucentisme ("1900-ism", a term coined in 1906 to refer to 20th century Catalan culture).
He also did some painting - he even presented some of his works at fine arts exhibitions in Barcelona - and contributed to the press in Granollers.