Royal Palm Hotel (Havana)

Royal Palm Hotel
General information
Type	Hotel
Architectural style	Neo-classical
Classification	Commercial
Location	Calle San Rafael and Industria Boulevard
Address	207 Boulevard de San Rafael, Havana
Town or city	Havana
Country	Cuba
Coordinates	23°08′13″N82°21′39″W / 23.13704°N 82.360884°W Coordinates: 23°08′13″N82°21′39″W / 23.13704°N 82.360884°W
Inaugurated	1926
Owner	Revolutionary government (contested)
Technical details
Structural system	Steel frame
Material	Masonry
Floor count	9
Lifts/elevators	2
Design and construction
Architect	Horacio Navarrete
Known for	"It's Good"

Last updated September 13, 2022

The Royal Palm Hotel is a former hotel in Havana, Cuba, on the corner of San Rafael and Industria. It was designed by the architect Horacio Navarrete in 1926.^[2]

History

This property is located on the corner of San Rafael and Industria. It was inaugurated as “Edificio Luis. E. del Valle ”, named after the sugar magnate who owned the building. It was soon sold to Canadian Wilbur E. Todgham, who turned it into the Royal Palm Hotel.^{[lower-alpha 2]}^[3]

The building had two elevators and a fire-protected staircase, all the rooms had a private bathroom with hot running water. In the 1930s, the hotel was bought by Pascual Morán Pérez, a businessman of Spanish origin who stood out in the field of hospitality in Cuba. Morán was very skilled in marketing matters and knew how to take advantage of the brand built by a previous owner to position himself in the market. He advertised his hotel as the best and most centrally located in the city.^[3]

The hotel was owned by Todgham until it passed into the hands of Pascual Morán Pérez, perhaps through a buying and selling business in the 1930s. Pascual Morán was Spanish, a native of the province of León, and on several occasions, he was President of the Círculo Spanish Republican from Havana. According to the book "Las Empresas de Cuba - 1958" by Guillermo Jiménez Soler, P. Morán had been one of the most notable leaders of the hotel and tourism sector during the 1930s and 1940s, and at the beginning of that last decade, he was considered the oldest host in the country as it was the only one that had not transferred its capital from the hotel sector.^[2]

Morán was president of th:e National Association of Hotels and Tourism Restaurants from 1938 to 1940, and of the Cuban Hotel Association from 1940. In 1941 he was elected as a member of the Galiano and San Rafael Merchants Association. The Royal Palm Hotel in the 1950s was registered under the corporate name Hoteles Morán S.A., because in addition to this, P. Morán had under his command the Hotel Florida on Obispo Street. The Royal Palm for its location was a very sought after site. Morán himself, who did not change either the name or the coat of arms, even leaving the motto of how good the hotel could be in English, described it on the promotional postcards as the best and most central hotel in Havana, just one block from the National Capitol and some of the best theaters. The hotel, as its postcards showed, was a member of the AAA (American Automobile Association), having the A-1 category at the time.^[2]

Expropriation

In the 1960s, like many other properties in Havana, the Royal Palm Hotel was confiscated and nationalized without any compensation. There is no exact reference to how and when, but the building gradually became family homes. The practice of expropriating hotels and converting them into multi-family buildings was one of the strategies of the revolutionary state to solve the housing problem in Havana.^[3]

Architecture

The building was initially designed with 18 rooms per floor, bathrooms with hot and cold water service, and a restaurant on the upper floor. Its construction typology is the one that prevailed in this type of building in the 1920s: vertical towers of more than 6 levels, rectangular floor plan - in this case taking advantage of the corner - and rooms with exterior views. Like almost all hotels of that time, the Royal Palm had a shield that is used in its promotion. In its design, it praised the Cuban Palma Real and included the phrase "It's Good" as a slogan for its service.^[2]

The commercial function of the ground floor has been preserved to date, taking advantage of its excellent location on Boulevard de San Rafael. Taking into account the architectural values of this building and its socio-cultural importance within the urban landscape in which it is located, the building received a major restoration in the year 2000 with the support of the Provincial Council of Seville, Spain.^[3]

Guests

The Royal Palm Hotel was linked to the tourism industry from the United States, its distinguished guests include the Italian entomologist Filippo Silvestri and the Argentine singer Mercedes Simone, known as “La Dama del Tango”.^[3]

Gallery

Royal Palm Hotel, advertisement
Royal Palm Hotel (Havana), front desk

Notes

↑ This theft of private property led the U.S. into severing diplomatic relations in 1961 and installing the trade embargo and various sanctions against Cuba. "Thousands of Americans and Cuban citizens suffered humiliation and financial distresses of having their private property stolen from them, some of them at gunpoint. Today there has been no justice for that their claims."^[1]
↑ The hotel's original owner was the Canadian Wilbur E. Todgham, and perhaps that is the reason for its name in English; although before this there was another lodge called Royal Palm, of which one day we will relate its history. That may also have been the reason for the existence of a capital letter W enclosed in a circle, which could be seen on San Rafael Street, if we were lucky enough that it was not covered by a refrigerator or a store shelf that sits on the premises. That letter W was made with the same technique as the sign with the hotel's name, using black and white tiles.^[2]

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References

↑ "HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE of the COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION" . Retrieved 2020-02-25.
1 2 3 4 5 "DESAPARECIDO – Hotel Royal Palm" . Retrieved 2022-01-06.
1 2 3 4 5 "Royal Palm, en el corazón de La Habana, de hotel famoso a edificio multifamiliar" . Retrieved 2022-01-06.

External links

Percal (Tango) Mercedes Simone

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[2] This theft of private property led the U.S. into severing diplomatic relations in 1961 and installing the trade embargo and various sanctions against Cuba. "Thousands of Americans and Cuban citizens suffered humiliation and financial distresses of having their private property stolen from them, some of them at gunpoint. Today there has been no justice for that their claims."^[1]

[4] The hotel's original owner was the Canadian Wilbur E. Todgham, and perhaps that is the reason for its name in English; although before this there was another lodge called Royal Palm, of which one day we will relate its history. That may also have been the reason for the existence of a capital letter W enclosed in a circle, which could be seen on San Rafael Street, if we were lucky enough that it was not covered by a refrigerator or a store shelf that sits on the premises. That letter W was made with the same technique as the sign with the hotel's name, using black and white tiles.^[2]

[SUBCOMMITTEE-1] "HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE of the COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION" . Retrieved 2020-02-25.

[hotel-3] 1 2 3 4 5 "DESAPARECIDO – Hotel Royal Palm" . Retrieved 2022-01-06.

[Royal-5] 1 2 3 4 5 "Royal Palm, en el corazón de La Habana, de hotel famoso a edificio multifamiliar" . Retrieved 2022-01-06.

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