The Hotel Saratoga in Havana, destroyed this Friday (6) after a massive explosion, has a long history: the building, located a few steps from the Capitol, was built in the late 19th century and, in the 1930s, was a one of the highlights of the hotel industry in the city. Here we review its history.
The building where the Hotel Saratoga is located, according to historian Carlos Venegas, was designed to house warehouses, houses and pensions. It was commissioned to be built by Spanish merchant Gregorio Palacios around 1879-1880, according to information on the hotel’s website.
“Gregorio Palacios, a native of Santander, was one of the wealthiest urban owners in Havana and one of the biggest contributors to the treasury,” explains the historian, citing a review of the hotel. In 1879 he signed the contract for the construction of the three-story building.
“The ground floor was a tobacco warehouse, a shop and entrance halls for the four houses that occupied the main floor or second floor. The third was used as a hotel or guesthouse, with 43 rooms and a dining room,” he explained.
The Saratoga Hotel, formerly located on Rua do Monte, was transferred to this building from Rua do Prado around 1933.
Today the hotel’s facade retains some of its original features. Elements of the building such as railings, wooden trusses, stairs and marble columns show how it was originally, despite major changes in the interior.
Hotels in Havana, a long-standing aspiration
The Havana Public Works Plan already estimated, at a time as old as the Government of General Tacón (between 1834 and 1838), the need to advance in the construction of inns and hotels that could receive tourists and foreign investors.
The arrival of foreigners, mainly Americans, influenced the modernization of the old hotels, which could be clearly seen until the 20th century, according to the hotel’s review.
By this time, the neighborhood of Las Murallas was undergoing modernization renovations. Its value increased after the construction of the Capitol in 1929.
Name origin
The origin of the name has not been verified, but it is possible that it is linked to the county of Saratoga, in the state of New York, where a spa with thermal waters was a place of vacation and for the treatment of certain diseases.
“Very close to this city there were important battles in the American War of Independence”, states the review, assuring that “perhaps the relationship of its owners with the event may have influenced the choice”.
The Hotel Saratoga and the beginning of the Anacoanas
One of the curiosities that the review highlights is that this hotel, which in 1935 was already listed in tourist guides as one of the most outstanding in the Cuban capital, is part of the history of the Anacoanas, which was the first orchestra formed entirely by women in the country.
Musical performances on the terrace attracted a large number of people to the surroundings of the building in the first half of the 20th century and it was precisely on this corner that the orchestra began.
Personalities such as the writer Rafael Alberti have already visited the Hotel Saratoga, whose visit is framed in a plaque commemorating the building, which reopened as a hotel in 2005.
Source: CNN Brasil
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