The last years of the Hospital de la Santa Creu coincide with the advent of the great urban transformation of Barcelona: the implementation of the Cerdą Plan and the construction of the Eixample 'new town'.It was during this period of Barcelona's expansion beyond its old city walls that Pau Gil i Serra, a Catalan banker living in Paris, died, in 1896. Gil established in his will that his estate be devoted to building a new hospital in Barcelona, and made it clear that the new centre should bring together the latest innovations in technology, architecture and medicine, and be dedicated to Saint Paul (Sant Pau). The result was the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau.
The agreement between the Board of the Hospital de la Santa Creu and the executors of Pau Gil's will made possible the construction of this new hospital on a site belonging to the Santa Creu bordering on the districts of Grącia, Horta, Guinardó and Sant Martķ de Provenēals.