In 1906 it acquired the Palau Savassona, at number 6, Carrer de la Canuda; this palace owes its name to the enlightened aristocrat Josep Francesc de Ferrer de Llupià-Brossa, baron of Savassona, who built it in 1796 as his family home.

Throughout its 150 years of history and presided over by personalities such as Àngel Guimerà, Joan Maragall, Pompeu Fabra, Pere Coromines, Lluís Nicolau d’Olwer, Jordi Sarsanedas, Heribert Barrera and Oriol Bohigas, the Ateneu has been the undisputed protagonist of the development of Catalan culture for the past century and a half.

The centre has played a key role in promoting the Catalan language and literature; there have been influential social gatherings that have introduced new ideas into Catalan society from all over the world in the scientific, intellectual and artistic fields. It has opened itself up to issues such as feminism, the environment, the economy and new technologies, and has become a space of plural civility, democracy and resistance in turbulent times. This all takes place in a unique and historical building, which houses one of the most important private libraries in our country, a central element of the Ateneu both for the aim of putting knowledge at the centre of the institution and for substituting the deplorable state of the universities in the 19th century.

The spaces now occupied by the library were the first floor of Palau Savassona. For this reason, a large part of the murals, known as El Vigatà, that Francesc Pla i Duran painted in 1796 to decorate what were then the dining rooms of Palau Savassona have been preserved.