By the late XIX century, the Barcelona’s population growth so rapid that togheter with the medicine advances, the hospital became too small, and it was decided to construct a new building.

The last years of the Hospital de la Santa Creu coincide with the great urban transformation of Barcelona: the construction of the Eixample district.

It was during this period of Barcelona’s expansion beyond its old city walls that Pau Gil i Serra, a Catalan banker when died leave his estate be devoted to building a new hospital in Barcelona. This new hospital had to have the latest innovations in technology, architecture and medicine, and be dedicated to Saint Paul. The result was the Hospital de Sant Pau.

The agreement between the Hospital de la Santa Creu and the executors of Pau Gil’s plans will made ​​possible the construction of this new hospital, which project was entrusted to Lluís Domènech i Montaner, one of the outstanding figures of Catalan Modernisme.