CUBA - Architecture of Havana

This special entry by Jim Bowen.

During our time in Mexico, we'd seen some interesting examples of Spanish Colonial architecture here and there, but nothing had prepared us for what we would see in the city of Havana.

In the early part of the 20th century, Havana was incredibly rich.  It seemed to act as a magnet, drawing money from the far corners of the world.  So much financial activity was taking place here, that in 1902, a block of the downtown core was dubbed, "Little Wall Street".  

There was a boom period, sometimes known as Havana's "Guilded Age", when buildings were being built at a frantic pace, in a myriad of styles, side by side, for block after block. Walking around the city centre, or "Centro", we saw buildings with Moorish and Spanish influence, in Italian, Greek and Roman styles, with international influences such as art nouveau, art deco and eclectic.  

For anyone interested in architectural photography, Havana is a paradise.  The city's architecture is dramatically diverse, and clearly mirrors Havana's history, from Spanish Colonial times to the present.

Havana's fortunes have risen and fallen, along with that of the country as a whole.  The great depression, conflicts with the United States, the Cultural Revolution, the collapse of the Soviet Union; all saw the city and her beautiful buildings suffering neglect, and the deterioration which goes along with it.  In 1974 however, a local high-school teacher founded an organization, whose mandate was to oversee the restoration of as many of these great buildings as possible.  Since then, more than a hundred projects have been completed, most of them spanning several years.

With the exception of a handful of government buildings, almost all of the buildings which have been the beneficiaries of this program are in the City Centre.  As you travel outward, away from the centre, the state of dis-repair, or sometimes, near collapse, of the buildings is astonishing.

In the photos below, I start with buildings which have undergone restoration and move to buildings which have not.  

This is the Presidential Palace, which has just undergone a major multi-year restoration.

The details of the ceiling in the main meeting room of the palace are fantastic.

The most grand buildings were the banks, the counting houses (tax department), .....

..... grand hotels, .....

..... and of course, churches for all faiths.

Many buildings wear a coat of scaffolding for long periods of time.  This is the Capitol Building, the seat of local government.  It's in the middle of a decade long restoration.

This building has had it's scaffolding up for so long that part of it is covered in 50 foot tall vines.

The Colonial part of the city sprawls along the side of the harbour, never more than 5 or 6 stories high.

At the edges of Centro, "modern" buildings, built after the revolution, sometime in the 1960's, sit side by side with restored Spanish Colonial gems like this.

Moorish influenced buildings pop up here and there, also side by side with Spanish Colonial buildings.

Only a small percentage of Havana's buildings have been lucky enough to be restored.

As we wandered farther away from the crowds of tourists, into the areas that have had no injections of cash or care, our eyes widened at what we saw.

There are a lot of buildings that badly need care, but are still usable.

Mixed in between, are boarded up examples, badly deteriorated and beyond saving.

As extravagant as the facades were when they were originally built, underneath the stone veneer, most are simple adobe construction, vulnerable to decay when not protected.

Incredibly, many of these buildings are occupied, despite their terrible condition.

Occasionally,  a part of the facade or a balcony will come crashing down to the street.

And yet life goes on for thousands of people who call Havana home.

We know so little of the political situation in Cuba to even begin to understand how all of this could happen, and what the long term solution might be.  The fact that many of these buildings have passed from private ownership, to state ownership under Communism, and back to private ownership again plays a big part.  There is no "real estate" industry here, as we know it.  It's only been a few years that owners of private homes have been allowed to advertise their property for sale.  Will Uncle Sam come in and "save" the Cubans?  Will these once majestic buildings crumble to the ground, a reminder of man's tiny place in the universe?

I put this last picture in to remind myself of how lucky we are to live where we do.  We were told by a resident of the neighbourhood that only the top three stories of this building are occupied.  You can see that there are no lights showing on the first three floors.  He said the reason for this is that the plumbing coming from the bathrooms above only drains into the basement and first floor, since the connection to the city services has long since corroded away.  The electricity is likely jury-rigged from some nearby overhead wires or from an adjacent building.  There are probably a dozen or more families living there, and yet every day they get dressed and go to work or school, and the ones that we passed on the street always seemed to have a smile and a friendly "hola" ready for us.  Amazing!  

Jim and Tricia Bowen

S/V Falcon VII - Land Cruise to Cuba

email: tandjbowen13@gmail.com