The 1920s and 1930s in Barcelona, but also in other parts of Catalonia and Spain, were characterized by the great effervescence of an educational reform that has been extensively studied. Nonetheless, the influence of this vitality may not have been that great regarding the education of children with disabilities. This article proposes to follow a relevant experience, the College for the Deaf-mute, Blind and Abnormal of Barcelona, which in 1919 settled in Vil·la Joana while experiencing an important reform and the creation of the annexed Laboratory of Studies and Research. At that time the school was moved to an institution closely linked to educational reform lived in the country, having a presence in it and beyond its borders. This paper traces the history of this school, since its origins in 1800 until the end of the Civil War that truncates that renovation. The documentary sources we work with not only allow institutional reconstruction of the life of the centre, but also go in detail in its internal functioning and teaching, without avoiding all internal conflicts or serious events experienced during the war.