Art Nouveau in Sant Joan Despí developed in the form of Modernisme and, more specifically, in a very personal interpretation of this style by the Barcelona-trained architect Josep Maria Jujol, Sant Joan Despí's municipal architect together with Gabriel Borrell from 1926 to 1949. His architecture was greatly marked by the influence of Antoni Gaudí, with whom he had collaborated, and when Modernisme began to disappear from Barcelona to be replaced by new trends, Jujol introduced the style to Sant Joan in 1913 with his Torre de la Creu. He was not overly concerned by the slowing down of the movement and the town greeted his expressive architecture with suitable enthusiasm.

This agricultural town was experiencing major growth at the time, with the arrival of the railways in 1891 and electricity in 1907, and, like many towns in the Baix Llobregat area, it was becoming a summer destination for Barcelona's middle classes. Second homes began to be built in the town and old ones were renovated. The most financially well-off farmers also contributed to this increase in construction. As was the custom, Modernisme was applied to domestic architecture and this was concentrated in the new part of the town. From 1897 onwards, this led to an enlargement of the town's centre, which was based around Plaça de l'Ermita, with wide, ordered streets like Les Torres, Jacint Verdaguer and other parallel streets.

Jujol's Modernisme was based on a careful treatment of plaster, terracotta and sgraffito on white façades, decorative elements that accompany the dynamism of volumes (especially in freestanding houses) and lively projecting roof lines undulating together with iron, in which the structural merges with the ornamental. True to the style of Modernisme, Jujol paid as much attention to interiors as he did to exteriors, combining both decorative and structural functions. For obvious reasons, he enjoyed less freedom of expression in party wall houses.

Other architects like Gabriel Borrell, Juli M. Fossas or Marcel·lí Coquillat, who were all trained in Barcelona and brought urban tastes to the Baix region, also worked at the same time as Jujol, the town's most prolific architect. It is also worth mentioning Ignasi Mas amongst this group because he collaborated by providing an alternative style to so-called "Popular Modernisme", which consisted of simply incorporating certain polychrome decorative elements into vernacular façades and accompanied by lively roof lines, examples of which can be found on Carrer Montjuïc from 1908 onwards.