The town of Sóller is located on the northwest coast of the island of Mallorca. It has a special geographical location in a fertile valley where oranges and olives are grown and is flanked by the Tramuntana mountain range. Sóller's Modernista flavour can already be appreciated if you decide to visit the town by train, because the narrow-gauge railway line inaugurated in 1912 linking Sóller with Palma de Mallorca is still functioning. The line still has its original engineering works, such as tunnels and viaducts, and uses an electric train that was built in 1929. The same company built the tram that connects Sóller with its port in 1913. The Ferrocarril de Sóller SA company is responsible for maintaining the two lines in their original state.
The town preserves a series of buildings by the architect Joan Rubió i Bellver. Rubió went to Mallorca to collaborate with Gaudí on the Mallorca Cathedral and his contacts with the curia provided him with other works on the island, the majority of which were religious in nature. Rector Sebastià Maymó, a good friend of Bishop Campins, who commissioned Gaudí to work on the Cathedral, hired Sóller to design the façade for the parish church, which had yet to be finished. He designed a traditional Gothic façade, but gave it what could be considered a Modernista interpretation. Work began in 1904 and ended in 1913 because of a lack of funding, and it was not completed until 1946. Rubió also designed the Banc de Sóller (1909-1912), a large grey ashlar building with asymmetrical windows covered by semicircular arches and a double semicircular overhanging corner gallery. Later modern intervention work mutilated the gablets decorating the roof.
Mention must also be made of a private building, the Casa Magraner, which can be dated back to 1911, according to the inscription on its façade. It was commissioned by the owner of a trading company, Joan Magraner, and is very close to Art Nouveau in its style. It is not clear who the architect was who designed the building because of a lack of documentation.
Besides these aforementioned buildings, Modernisme in Sóller lefts its mark throughout the city with many applied and decorative arts creations, such as small iron or wooden details and decorative painting elements, etc, all giving witness to the growth of this movement amongst all social classes.