Viladomiu Nou

Viladomiu Nou is a colony located in the municipality of Gironella. The colonies nearby are Viladomiu Vell and El Guixaró.

History

Mr. Thomas Viladomiu acquired a land located in the Plain of Sant Marc, in Gironella, and in 1868 promoted the construction of Viladomiu Vell. Mr. Viladomiu soon realized that the model of industrial colony was a good deal and decided to buy a new site, where today there Viladomiu Nou to expand the factory.

In 1880 he began to build the factory, since 1897, when brothers Joseph and Jacinto Viladomiu get his part of inheritance, became the central element of Viladomiu Nou; gradually took that step established as a colony separate from Viladomiu Vell. In 1900 work began to build two most emblematic buildings on Viladomiu Nou: the house of the owner and the church. The house was already used as a temporary residence of family Viladomiu from 1902 and the church was inaugurated in 1905. In this process of growth of the colony stood the figure of Marc Viladomiu M, who also bought, in 1929, the factory and the colony of El Guixaró. During the first half of the thirties expanded and built new factory floors.

During the Civil War (1936-1939), the factory was collectivized, but the outcome of the war and the establishment of the Franco dictatorship, the Viladomiu gets back the ownership of the factory and the colony. From then until the arrival of the crisis in the textile factory was running at full capacity, the colony continued to grow demographically and appeared new places: Babysitting (1943), Sports Area (1948) and new workers houses (1951).

The crisis in the textile and the model of industrial colonies that ultimately affect all the colonies of the Berguedà became particularly evident in Viladomiu Nou, from 1982. Finally, the factory closed doors in 1991. Despite the closure of the factory, the colony is not abandoned. At present flats remain occupied by former workers- and factory, with new owners, is functioning again.

Areas of interest

Owner's House: starts building in 1899 and the summer of 1902 the Viladomiu family stays there. No one knows for sure but certainly the construction of the building was led by Valenti Canudas from Casserres. The house was used, by the owners, as a summer residence or to sleep when it goes in to control if the factory and the whole colony are working correctly. Currently, the building can be visited to see how they lived, a hundred years ago, the owners of the colonies.

Church: construction began in 1900; three years after Viladomiu Nou colony would become "independent" from Viladomiu Well and was inaugurated in 1905.

Housing: Currently the colony consists of 102 houses. The oldest date from 1900 and newer, in New Street, is 1951.

Babysitting: building constructed in 1928. In 1943 it was refurbished to host a small community of nuns.

Theatre Film: This building was built in 1917 as a warehouse of the factory.  In 1952 was refurbished to turn it into a movie theater for colony. It can accommodate 426 spectators. In 1998 burned the stage, and currently is not used.

School:  built in 1957. It houses the old school boys and girls, who had to be educated, as elsewhere until the seventies of the twentieth century, separately. Children of different ages in one classroom had a teacher and girls, however, were educated by the nuns of the convent.

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• Town: Gironella
• Post code: 08680