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TRANS-LUX VOLUME 31 NO. 1

HABANA DECO Eugenio de Anzorena

I was privileged to attend the 12th World Congress of the International Coalition of Art Deco Societies held in Havana, Cuba from March 14 through March 20, 2013. Most of the participants from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, China, France and others stayed at the Hotel Nacional (McKim, Mead & White, 1930) in the Beaux Arts style (similar to the Biltmore hotel in Coral Gables, Florida) with the addition of some Art Deco touches, especially around the roof. In 1955 the Nacional’s casino and nightclub were opened and operated by the mobster Meyer Lansky. Visitors included Buster Keaton, Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner, Mar-lene Dietrich, Winston Churchill, Tyrone Power, Fred Astaire and Rita Hay-worth.


Around 250 participants from abroad and from Cuba took part in the Congress. The organizers, especially Geo Darder and Gustavo Lopez Gon-zalez, made a remarkable effort to make the Congress as smooth as possi-ble. We had meals at various venues around the city and a lunch at the former Dupont estate in Veradero, a beach resort about an hour and a half from Havana. Most of the meals provided in Government run locations were mediocre, but we were encouraged to visit “paladares”, which are restaurants in private homes, during our two free evenings. I took ad-vantage of this suggestion along with some friends and was not a least bit disappointed. One paladar was in a mid-century modern house and an-

other in a Victorian house. The organizers provided bus transportation to the paladares. As Victoria Burnett pointed out in a New York Times article of March 20, 2013 “The absence of a construction boom during the past 50 years has spared many of Cuba’s historic buildings from the developer’s bulldozer. However, the lack of resources, high humidity, salty sea air and the fact that until a year ago Cubans could not buy or sell property mean that many buildings are in disrepair. Poorly enforced building codes and over-crowding in houses have resulted in cheap or tasteless alterations to houses that should be designated landmarks.” The first full day we visited a Deco house in the Streamlined Moderne style (designed by Rafael de Cardenas) which is now a museum containing a large collection of movie posters.


Next we visited the Art Deco house of Catalina Laza, now called the Casa de la Amistad, which has a wonderful Art Deco interior designed by Luis Estevez Abreu with Rene Lalique windows. It was the best Art Deco interior we saw at the Congress.


Next we visited the Museum of Decorative Arts designed in 1927 by French architects Paul-Jean-Emile Viard and Marcel Dastugue for Maria Luisa Gomez Mena, Countess of Revilla de Camargo, which included some beautiful Art Deco pieces including an Art Deco bathroom with Italian mar-ble tiles and light fixtures designed in Paris by Marius-Ernest Sabino. We were entertained by a group of excellent dancers who continued perform-ing during our lunch in the garden.

In the afternoon we visited the Casa de las Americas (1940), which had also been a private home. It is a three level horizontal block with vertical setbacks and a two story staggered tower which rises from the third level. A small cubic block containing a clock crowns the tower, which is topped by a spire of stained glass. Our first lectures took place here. In the evening we had dinner at the Club Habana (1926) which once housed the Havana Biltmore Yacht & Country Club. In the 1950’s it denied entry to Cuban president Fulgencio Batista on the grounds that he was black (in fact he was of mixed blood with a black mother and a part Chinese father.) Fidel Castro had dinner there some 30 years later at one of the few places

where he has dined in public.


After morning lectures on the second full day, in the afternoon we traveled to the Havana suburbs to visit the Lugardita theater (1932) with its interior based on Mexican and Central American indigenous themes.


Next we saw the America Theater, a streamlined moderne structure (1941, by Fernando Martinez Campos and Pascual de Rojas) with a dance program.


On day four, after the morning lectures, we had lunch on the top floor of the Hotel Sevilla (1908) with wonderful views of Havana. It is Havana’s leading turn of the 20th Century luxury hotel visited by many celebrity guests such as Josephine Baker, Ernest Hemingway, Al Capone, Meyer Lan-sky, and Lucky Luciano. We were entertained by a group of excellent

dancers.


After lunch we visited the building that many of us believe to be the best one we were privileged to see: the Bacardi Building (1930, Esteban Ro-driguez Castells, Rafael Fernandez Ruenes and Jose Menendez, archi-tects). It is one of Havana’s first skyscrapers (12 stories). It has glazed colorful terra-cotta embellishments with the building’s spire crowned by the Bacardi emblem, a bat. The lobby is decorated from floor to ceiling with multicolored marble imported from various European countries.

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In late afternoon we attended a short performance by the Ballet Nacional de Cuba at the Teatro Nacional (1958, Arroyo & Menendez, architects), followed by a wonderful meal at one of the paladares.

Day five began with lectures and lunch followed by a tour of the Lopez Chavez house which was the residence of Enrique Garcia Cabrera, a fa-mous Cuban illustrator. (We also heard a lecture about him by Pepe Menendez at another location two days later). The interior of this house contains many fine Art Deco furnishings.

Next we visited the Lopez Serrano apartment building (1932, Ricardo Mi-ra and Miguel Rosich, architects). The vestibule contains a magnificent nick-el silver panel of a Mercury-like figure with a winged helmet designed by Garcia Cabrera and used by the Congress for its poster and promotional materials. The vertical shafts of the building and tower setback show the influence of New York skyscraper architecture. Originally there were eight apartments per floor. Unfortunately, it is in obvious disrepair, as is the

building next door where we visited an artist’s apartment and gallery.


We were also shown the exterior of the Solimar apartments, a 1944 build-ing designed by Manuel Copado, with curved rhythmic balconies on its façade. The evening was highlighted by performances by singers and dancers reminiscent of the 1950’s Tropicana shows.


On day six we traveled to the beach resort of Varadero for lunch at Xanadu, the former Irenee DuPont house in Spanish revival style (1926, Evelio Govantes and Felix Cabarrocas, architects).

Upon our return, we had some free time, so a friend and I visited the Meth-odist Church (1951, Ricardo E. Franklin Acosta, architect). It has a wonder-ful vaulted interior.


On the last day of the Congress we visited the Colon Cemetery which con-tains the tomb of Catalina Lasa housed in a white marble mausoleum de-signed by Rene Lalique, including an interior glass panel, and various other

Deco tombs.


Although not Deco, one of the highlights of the Congress was a visit to the Hemingway house (Finca Vigia) with a breathtaking view of downtown Havana. It was built in 1886 and designed by Spanish architect Miguel Pascual y Baguer and purchased by Ernest Hemingway in 1940. He lived there until 1960 after which it fell into disrepair. It has been beautifully restored this decade in a collaborative effort between the US and Cuba.


After lunch at the Museum of Fine Arts, we visited the collection and those of us who represented the various ICADS chapters met at the hotel to dis-cuss future Congresses (Shanghai is in 2015) and other administrative mat-ters. The farewell dinner was held at the hotel with an excellent band and dancing by the Congress participants.

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