Hotel Sevilla

The Hotel Sevilla is a historic hotel in Havana, Cuba.

for the hotel in Algeciras see Hotel Sevilla (Algeciras)
Hotel Sevilla
Original 1908 wing of Hotel Sevilla
General information
LocationCalle Trocadero #55, Entre Prado y Zulueta
Havana, Cuba
OpeningMarch 22, 1908
Technical details
Floor count10
Design and construction
ArchitectJosé Troya, Antonio Rodríguez and José Rodríguez, Schultze & Weaver
Other information
Number of rooms178
The 1924 tower wing of the Hotel Sevilla-Biltmore, 1931

History

The Hotel Sevilla opened on March 22, 1908.[1] It was a four-story Moorish Revival structure, designed by architects Arellano y Mendozaon, located on Calle Trocadero, next to the Paseo del Prado, between the Malecón and Parque Central. The Sevilla was bought by John McEntee Bowman and Charles Francis Flynn in 1919 and renamed the Hotel Sevilla-Biltmore. In 1924, Bowman-Biltmore Hotels constructed a huge ten-story tower wing, with a rooftop ballroom, designed by noted New York architects Schultze & Weaver.

In 1939, the Sevilla-Biltmore was purchased by Italian-Uruguayan mobster Amleto Battisti y Lora.[1] Its casino was closely associated with Havana's mafia network, being part-owned by Santo Trafficante, Jr. Mobs destroyed the Sevilla-Biltmore's casino on January 1, 1959, after Fulgencio Batista fled the country overnight as Fidel Castro's rebel army approached Havana. Amleto Battisti took refuge in the Uruguayan embassy.[2][3]

The Sevilla-Biltmore was featured in Graham Greene's novel Our Man in Havana as the location where the protagonist joins the British secret service.

Today, the hotel is owned by the Cuban state-run Gran Caribe hotel group. The French Accor chain assumed management of it in 1996,[4] first under their Sofitel division as the Hotel Sofitel Sevilla Havana,[5] and more recently under their Mercure Hotels division as the Hotel Mercure Sevilla Havane. Accor announced plans in 2017 to renovate the Sevilla and transfer it to their boutique MGallery by Sofitel division.[6] However, Accor ceased management of the hotel on December 31, 2018.

References
  1. "hotel sevilla cuba - a Centennial Hotel in Old Havana city". Hotelsevillacuba.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  2. Batista and Regime Flee Cuba; Castro Moving to Take Power; Mobs Riot and Loot in Havana, The New York Times, January 2, 1959
  3. Moruzzi, Peter (10 December 2011). "Family Feud: Havana vs. Las Vegas in the 1950s. Part 2". Petermouruzzi.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  4. "Havana staying as it was". Otago Daily Times Online News. 15 November 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  5. "The Role of the United States in the Cuban Economy". Ascecuba.org. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  6. "Cuba's 1st US Standard-Based 4-5 Star/4-5 Diamond Rated Hotel May Arrive In June". U.S. - Cuba Trade and Economic Council, Inc. Retrieved 20 March 2019.

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