Casal de Vilalba

The house was raised in the middle of the nineteenth century on prehistoric, Iberian, Roman, Visigothic, Romanesque and Gothic remains. It has a complex plan with several annexes, and arcaded galleries on the north and east sides. In front of the north facade lies a courtyard closed by a portico with semicircular arches. The portico joins the entrance door, which continues along the east facade to form a large courtyard in front of the south facade. The facade was restored in 1951 and keeps an original lintel with the monogram of Christ.

Remains of the old tower with arrow slits survive inside the house, together with the old door of iron and wood that gave access to the former castle. Inside there is also a domed space four storeys high with a skylight and pointed arches, and a chapel with a single nave, a barrel vault with two transverse arches, a square apse and a polychrome wooden altar. The house is surrounded by woods, meadows and gardens, and a golf course was laid out on the adjacent land at the end of the twentieth century.

The small settlement called Vilalba is first mentioned in 932, when Teodoric, bishop of Barcelona, consecrated and endowed the church of Sant Genís with this property. A deed of Ramon Borrell dates from 996 and is kept in the Archive of the Crown of Aragon. The place is mentioned again in 1013 and in documents of 1471 and 1713.

It later belonged to the monastery of Montserrat. After the confiscation of church property in 1836, it was bought at auction by Marià Borrell i de Miralpeix, who transformed the old building into the present house. In December 1919 it was bought by Francisco Rivière Chavany, who wished to open up investment possibilities other than industry and to create a house where his family could gather as it grew.