Hotel Nacional de Cuba

Hotel Nacional, typical floor plan

The Hotel Nacional was designed by the New York architecture firm of McKim, Mead and White, financed by the National City Bank of New York,[2] and constructed in fourteen months by the U.S. engineering firm of Purdy and Henderson. The structure contains a mix of styles, including Sevillian, Roman, Moorish and Art Deco. The Palladian style entrance portico has two stylized column capitals and quoins of coral stone.[3]

The layout of the Hotel Nacional is based on two Greek crosses, giving the majority of the rooms a view of the ocean. The 6 typical floors have 74 rooms and 63,641 sq. ft. of floor area. The eighth-floor (top floor) has 66 rooms and an area of 50,325 sq. ft. The footprint of the building measures approximately 523' x 265'. The structure of the building is a steel frame, while the decorative elements including ground floor details, columns, wall facings and much of the paving, are covered in coral stone.[4]

The hotel is located on the Hill of Taganana, the site of the Santa Clara Battery, which dates back to 1797. Part of the battery has been preserved in the hotel's gardens, including two large coastal guns dating from the late 19th Century.

The National Hotel of Cuba, circa 1933.

The hotel opened as The National Hotel of Cuba on December 30, 1930, operated by the American managers of the Plaza Hotel, Savoy-Plaza Hotel and Copley Plaza Hotel,[5] at a time Cuba was a prime travel destination for people in the U.S.

In 1933, after Fulgencio Batista's 4 September 1933 coup against the transitional government, The National Hotel was the residence of Sumner Welles, a special envoy sent by U. S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt to mediate the crisis. Soon after, on October 2-3, 1933, it was the site of a bloody siege that would become known as the Battle of the Hotel Nacional of Cuba. The conflict pitted officers of the Cuban army, holed up in the hotel, who had been instrumental in the overthrow of Gerardo Machado but opposed Batista, against the non-commissioned officers and other ranks of the Cuban army, who supported Batista. Their successful assault on the hotel left over forty combatants dead and caused extensive damage to the building, including shell and bullet holes.

The National Hotel was restored soon after and reopened. In 1939, it was renamed Hotel Nacional de Cuba. Chicago developer Arnold Kirkeby acquired the property in July 1943[6] and operated it for over a decade as part of his Kirkeby Hotels chain.

Beginning on December 20, 1946[7] the hotel hosted the Havana Conference, an infamous mob summit run by Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky and attended by Santo Trafficante Jr., Frank Costello, Albert Anastasia, Vito Genovese and many others. Francis Ford Coppola dramatised the conference in his film The Godfather Part II.

Delegates were present representing New York City, New Jersey, Buffalo, Chicago, New Orleans and Florida, with the largest delegation of bosses from the New York-New Jersey area. Several major bosses from the Jewish Syndicate were at the conference to discuss joint La Cosa Nostra-Jewish Syndicate business. According to conference rules, the Jewish delegates could not vote on Cosa Nostra rules or policies; however, the Jewish crime bosses were allowed input on any joint business ventures, such as the Flamingo Hotel.[8]

Luciano opened the Havana Conference by discussing a topic that would greatly affect his authority within the American Mafia; the position of "capo di tutti capi" or "boss of all bosses". The last official boss of all bosses had been Salvatore Maranzano, who was murdered in September 1931. By the end of 1931, Luciano had eliminated this top position and re-organized the Italian mafia into "La Cosa Nostra", or "This Thing of Ours". A board of directors, commonly called the "Commission", had been formed to oversee criminal activities, control rules, and set policies. La Cosa Nostra thus became the top criminal organization within the National Crime Syndicate.[8]

Now Luciano could easily have declared himself as Maranzano's heir in 1932; instead, Luciano decided to exercise control behind the scenes. This arrangement had worked until Vito Genovese's return from Italy. Officially, Genovese was now just a caporegime; however, he had made it clear that he intended to take control of the Luciano crime family. Since Luciano's deportation in 1946, Luciano ally Frank Costello had been the acting boss of the Luciano family. As a result, tensions between the Costello and Genovese factions had started to fester. Luciano had no intention of stepping down as family boss; he had to do something about Genovese. Luciano also realized that Genovese threatened his overall authority and influence within the American mafia, probably with support from other crime bosses. Therefore, Luciano decided to resurrect the boss of all bosses position and claim it for himself. He hoped the other bosses would support him, either by officially affirming the title or at least by acknowledging that he was still "First Amongst Equals".[8]

At the conference, Luciano allegedly presented the motion to retain his position as the top boss in La Cosa Nostra. Then Luciano ally, Albert "The Mad Hatter" Anastasia seconded the motion. Anastasia voted with Luciano because he felt threatened by Genovese's attempts to muscle in on his waterfront rackets. Checkmated by the Luciano-Costello-Anastasia alliance, Genovese was forced to swallow his ambitions and plan for the future. To further embarrass Genovese, Luciano encouraged Anastasia and Genovese to settle their differences and shake hands in front of the other bosses. This symbolic gesture was meant to prevent another bloody gang war such as the Castellammarese War of 1930–1931. With Luciano solidifying his personal position and squashing Genovese's ambition for now, Luciano brought up discussion of the mob's narcotics operations in the United States.[8]

In September 1955, Kirkeby Hotels Corp. sold the Hotel Nacional to a newly formed Cuban company, Corporacion Intercontinental de Hoteles, S.A., with Pan Am's Intercontinental Hotel Corp. division assuming partial ownership and also management of the property.[9] Alphons Landa, a prominent Washington attorney, represented Pan Am and arranged for other clients and friends to acquire shares in the hotel's ownership at the same time. Dave Beck, President of the Teamsters and Roy Fruehauf of the Fruehauf Trailer Corporation were silent partners for at least 2 years. Fruehauf would sell his interest in the hotel in May 1957; other investors would lose everything when Castro came to power.[10] Lansky planned to take a wing of the 10-storey hotel and create luxury suites for high-stakes gamblers. Batista endorsed Lansky's idea even though there were objections from American expatriates such as Ernest Hemingway. Under Lansky's impetus, a wing of the grand entrance hall was refurbished to include a bar, a restaurant, a showroom and a luxurious casino. It was operated by Lansky and his brother Jake, with Wilbur Clark as the front man.[11]

The new wing of the hotel, consisting of Wilbur Clark's Casino Internacional, the adjoining Starlight Terrace Bar, and the Casino Parisién night club (home of the Famous Dancing Waters), opened in 1956 with a performance by Eartha Kitt,[12] who became the hotel's first black guest.[13] The casino and clubs were an immediate success. According to an unpublished article sent to Cuban Information Archives around 1956–57, "The bar was tended by local bartenders, and the casino managed by gentlemen from Las Vegas."[14] By the spring of 1957 the casino, sublet by the hotel for a substantial rent to Lansky, was bringing in as much cash as the biggest casinos in Las Vegas. In late 1958 the casino was sold to Michael McLaney and Carroll Rosenbloom.

Hotel Nacional de Cuba, 1973.

Following the Cuban Revolution in January 1959, Havana's casinos were briefly shut down, but were quickly reopened after protests by casino workers left out of work. Fidel Castro nationalized the hotel on March 20, 1960 and finally closed the casino in October 1960, almost two years after his overthrow of Batista.

During the Cuban Missile Crisis, anti-aircraft guns were set up on the site of the Santa Clara Battery and an extensive series of tunnels were built under the property, which are now open to the public on guided tours.[15]

After years of neglect due to the reduction in tourism following the revolution, the hotel was mainly used to accommodate visiting diplomats and foreign government officials. The collapse of the USSR in 1991 forced the Cuban communist party, anxious for foreign exchange reserves, to reopen Cuba to tourists.