Hotel Sevilla
History
The Hotel Sevilla opened on March 22, 1908. It was a four-story Moorish Revival structure, designed by architects Arellano y Mendoza on, 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. 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.
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 in 1996, first under their Sofitel division as the Hotel Sofitel Sevilla Havana, and later 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. However, Accor ceased management of the hotel on December 31, 2018.
In 2023, the hotel joined the Spanish Meliá Hotels International chain as Hotel Sevilla Habana Affiliated by Meliá.
In Popular Culture
The hotel is mentioned in The Godfather Part 2, at a meeting between main mafia bosses in Havana.
See also
References
- ^ "hotel sevilla cuba - a Centennial Hotel in Old Havana city". Hotelsevillacuba.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ Batista and Regime Flee Cuba; Castro Moving to Take Power; Mobs Riot and Loot in Havana, The New York Times, January 2, 1959
- ^ Moruzzi, Peter (10 December 2011). "Family Feud: Havana vs. Las Vegas in the 1950s. Part 2". Petermouruzzi.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "Havana staying as it was". Otago Daily Times Online News. 15 November 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "The Role of the United States in the Cuban Economy". Ascecuba.org. Archived from the original on 27 April 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "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. 7 February 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "Meliá Starts a New Chapter in Cuba, Driven by the Island's Recovery, and Introduces New Lifestyle Experiences".
- ^ "Meeting Between Michael Corleone And Hyman Roth - The Godfather 2 (1974)" – via www.youtube.com.
External links
- Hotel Sevilla Habana Affiliated by Meliá official website
- Digital Photographic Archive of Historic Havana
- Hotel Sevilla fan website
- Hotel Sevilla cubaism.com Archived 2018-02-22 at the Wayback Machine
23°08′25″N 82°21′30″W / 23.1404°N 82.3583°W
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