The Hotel Sevilla is a historic hotel in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

History

The Hotel Sevilla opened on March 22, 1908. It was a four-story

Moorish Revival Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mid-19th centu ...

structure, designed by architects Arellano y Mendoza on, located on Calle Trocadero, next to the

Paseo del Prado The Paseo del Prado is one of the main boulevards in Madrid, Spain. It runs north–south between the Plaza de Cibeles and the Plaza del Emperador Carlos V (also known as Plaza de Atocha), with the Plaza de Cánovas del Castillo (the locati ...

, between the

Malecón A jetty is a structure that projects from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signifying somet ...

and Parque Central. The Sevilla was bought by

John McEntee Bowman John McEntee Bowman (1875 – October 28, 1931) was a Canadian-born businessman, American hotelier and horseman, and the founding president of Bowman-Biltmore Hotels Corp.- - Biography Born in Toronto, Ontario, Bowman began his American worki ...

and Charles Francis Flynn in 1919 and renamed the Hotel Sevilla-Biltmore. In 1924,

Bowman-Biltmore Hotels Bowman-Biltmore Hotels was a hotel chain created by the hotel magnate John McEntee Bowman. The name evokes the Vanderbilt family's Biltmore Estate, whose buildings and the gardens within are privately owned historical landmarks and tourist attracti ...

constructed a huge ten-story tower wing, with a rooftop ballroom, designed by noted New York architects

Schultze & Weaver Schultze & Weaver was an architecture firm established in New York City in 1921. The partners were Leonard Schultze and S. Fullerton Weaver. History Leonard B. Schultze was born in Chicago, Illinois, on December 5, 1877. He was educated at the Cit ...

. In 1939, the Sevilla-Biltmore was purchased by Italian-Uruguayan mobster Amleto Battisti y Lora. Its casino was closely associated with Havana's

mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...

network, being part-owned by

Santo Trafficante, Jr. Santo Trafficante Jr. (November 15, 1914 – March 17, 1987) was among the most powerful Mafia bosses in the United States. He headed the Trafficante crime family and controlled organized criminal operations in Florida and Cuba, which had p ...

Mobs destroyed the Sevilla-Biltmore's casino on January 1, 1959, after

Fulgencio Batista Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (; ; born Rubén Zaldívar, January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who served as the elected president of Cuba from 1940 to 1944 and as its U.S.-backed military dictator ...

fled the country overnight as Fidel Castro's rebel army approached Havana. Amleto Battisti took refuge in the Uruguayan embassy. The Sevilla-Biltmore was featured in

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

's novel '' Our Man in Havana'' as the location where the protagonist joins the

British secret service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

. Today, the hotel is owned by the Cuban state-run Gran Caribe hotel group. The French

Accor Accor S.A. is a French multinational hospitality company that owns, manages and franchises hotels, resorts and vacation properties. It is the largest hospitality company in Europe, and the sixth largest hospitality company worldwide. Accor ope ...

chain assumed management in 1996, first under their

Sofitel Sofitel Hotels & Resorts are a French hotel chain of luxury hotels based in Paris, France, and owned by Accor since 1980. Founded in 1964 in France, Sofitel quickly developed worldwide to reach more than 200 properties. In 2008, Sofitel became ...

division as the Hotel Sofitel Sevilla Havana, and later under their

Mercure Hotels Mercure is a French midscale hotel brand specialized in traditional hotels managed by committed hoteliers, and owned by Accor. Created in 1973 in France, the brand was acquired by Accor in 1975. The Mercure brand appears on 899 hotels in 61 countr ...

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. However, Accor ceased management of the hotel on December 31, 2018. In 2023, it was announced that the hotel would join the Spanish Meliá Hotels International chain.https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4116290.html

References

External links

Hotel Sevilla fan website

Hotel Sevilla cubaism.com
Bowman-Biltmore Hotels Hotels in Havana Hotels established in 1908 Hotel Sevilla Hotel buildings completed in 1908 Nightclubs in Havana 20th-century architecture in Cuba {{cuba-struct-stub

History

See also

References

External links