Restoring a masia in Girona
A masia for sale in Empordà or Garrotxa can be a wonderful home or a problem with no solution. The difference is almost never in the stone: it is in the catalogue.
The rule that decides everything
Most masias (traditional Catalan farmhouses) are on non-developable land, where Catalan planning law is restrictive: no new homes can be built. The exception is the masias and country houses that the town has included in its catalogue of masias and country houses, because there are architectural, historical, environmental, landscape or social reasons to preserve and recover them.
If the masia is catalogued, it can be restored or rebuilt for the uses its entry allows, which may include a family home, rural tourism or hotels, among others. If it is not, that door is closed.
What restoration requires
When the masia is catalogued, the restoration has clear conditions:
- Respect the existing built volume and its original volumetric composition.
- Extensions are only allowed if the new use justifies them, and they cannot harm the architectural and landscape values of the whole.
- The uses are those the catalogue entry allows, not the ones we would like.
That is why, in a masia, the project starts with a careful survey of what exists: walls, roofs, floors, openings, annexes. What exists is the measure of what can be done.
Before buying: a short checklist
- Is it in the catalogue? Ask the City Council for the entry or look it up in the planning register.
- Which uses does it allow? Not every entry allows housing.
- Which volume is recognised? Ruined annexes or additions built without a permit may not count.
- What condition is the structure in? Stone walls, timber floors and roofs may need major consolidation.
- Which services does it have? Access, water, electricity and drainage. In many masias they have to be solved independently.
- Are there other restrictions? Heritage, protected natural areas, watercourses, roads.
With those six answers you can make an honest estimate of the cost and the timeline.
Materials and craft
Restoring a masia is not decorating it. It means consolidating stone walls with compatible mortars, replacing or strengthening timber floors, rebuilding tiled roofs while respecting their geometry, and opening the interior to the light without breaking the façade. The noble materials already there (stone, wood, ceramics, lime) are almost always the ones the house asks for again.
And if what you want is a new house
If instead of a masia you want to build on a plot of urban land, the rules are different: those of each town’s planning. In Gironès we designed GG01, a single-storey house anchored to the land and open to the valley. More about our work in the province in architects in Girona.
The first visit
If you are thinking of buying a masia, the first visit is free. We come with you, look at it and tell you what can be done before you sign anything.
This article summarises public regulations for information purposes. Every case depends on its plot, its building and the current wording of the rules: check before deciding.
