HAVANA
Havana is one of the most charming capitals in the New World. Its very
name, Indian in its origin, conjures up a vivid panorama of four
centuries, crowded with tragedy, pathos, adventure, bold deeds, cruel
crimes and noble sacrifices; on whose rapidly moving film the hand of
fate has pictured every phase of human emotion from the wild dreams of
world conquerors, to the hopeless despair of hunted Cubenos, who
preferred death to slavery. It was on the 25th day of July, 1515, that
Diego Velasquez, while cruising along the south coast of the Island,
stopped on the sandy beach near a native fishing village called
Metabano. The Indians belonged to a tribe known as the Habanas; one of
the thirty different divisions of the Cubenos. Grass-covered plains
extending back from the beach seemed to impress Velasquez favorably, so
he founded a city there and called it San Cristobal de la Habana.
Toward the close of the year 1519, however, the colonists evidently
disapproved of Velasquez’s selection and moved their town across to the
north coast of the Island at the mouth of the Almandares, where
northeasterly winds made the summers more agreeable. This little stream,
emptying into the Gulf of Mexico, had a depth of twelve or fifteen feet
at the mouth, sufficient for the caravels of those days. But some of the
City Fathers, in their wanderings to the eastward, found the beautiful
bay, then known as Carena. A prophetic glimpse into the future may have
furnished the motive for another change; at any rate a year later they
picked up their household fixtures, carrying with them the town records,
and established the City where it now stands, on the eastern shores of
one of the finest land locked harbors in the world. In 1556 Havana
became the capital of Cuba, the rendezvous of all Spanish fleets in the
Occident, as well as the key to the Gulf of Mexico.
Havana in the early days of the 16th century consisted of several groups
or clusters of palm thatched huts, not far from the bay, with little
that could suggest a city in embryo. As in all cities built by the
Spaniards in the New World, the first permanent buildings were churches
and monasteries erected for the benefit of the Catholic clergy and
built, as a rule, of adobe or mamposteria, with walls two or three feet
in thickness. The material used was a mixture of rock, earth and sand,
inclosed in facings of plaster. Many of them were decorated with crude
figures and images of saints popular in the community.
Later, quarries of soft limestone were found in abundance, and from
these, blocks were easily cut which, after exposure to the atmosphere,
formed a hard, durable building material. The coral rock of which both
Morro and Cabañas were built was taken from old quarries scattered along
the north shore from Morro eastward. From these quarries came also the
stone that built the spacious San Francisco Convent, occupied today by
the Central post office.
As in all Spanish towns, in the New World at least, a plaza or open
square formed the center from which the principal streets radiated. On
the eastern side of the plaza of Havana, in front of La Fuerza, was
erected in after years El Templete, in honor of the first mass held by
the inhabitants of Havana, which took place under a giant ceiba growing
close to the shore of the harbor, in 1519.
Nearly all of the permanent structures in Havana, up to the middle of
the 17th century, were located on or near the water front, some distance
in from La Punta. Many of these, including La Fuerza, the San Francisco
convent, the old cathedral and La Maestranza, were built of coral
limestone cemented with a mixture the formula for which is said to have
been lost, but which in these buildings has endured the wear of
centuries. Excellent clay for making tile and brick was later found not
far south of the City, so that the more pretentious buildings were
covered with roofs of the criolla tiles that are still common throughout
all Latin America.
Before the middle of the 15th century, the clearing in which Havana was
located was extended out as far as the street now known as Monserrate,
running from the Gulf front across to the southwestern extension of the
bay. In 1663 a splendid wall was begun along this line and completed
with the help of slaves in 1740. It ran almost north and south,
inclosing the city on the west, and protected it from all attacks coming
from the land side. This wall was twenty feet in height and twelve feet
thick at the base, surmounted at frequent intervals by quaint
round-topped turrets. It had its angles, bastions and points of vantage
for defensive purposes, the work, according to experts, representing a
very high degree of engineering ability on the part of those who planned
it.
With the exception of one angle and its turret, which stands in front of
the new Presidential Palace, the old walls were removed in 1902, thus
depriving Havana of perhaps the most picturesque feature of the ancient
city.
Just in front of this wall on the west, a wide clearing was made to
prevent surprise attacks from the forests beyond. With the felling of
the trees, grass soon grew along its entire length, hence the name
Prado, which means meadow, became permanently attached to it, and so the
green lawn in front of the old walls of the 17th century was transformed
two hundred years later into Havana’s most aristocratic avenue.
The principal thoroughfare, leading from the southern side of the Plaza
de Armas to the Prado, was called Obispo or Bishop Street, which name it
still retains. It is said that the first Bishop of Havana was in the
habit of taking his daily walk out along this road to the main gate of
the City; hence the name.
Beginning at the water front and running from La Fuerza west, parallel
to Obispo, is O’Reilly Street, named in honor of one of Cuba’s most
energetic Governors-General, who controlled the affairs of Havana in
1763, and who was, as the name suggests, of Irish antecedents. Just
north of O’Reilly and parallel to it we have Empedrado Street which won
its distinction by being paved from the old Cathedral to San Juan de
Dios Park in the time of Governor General Las Casas. South of Obispo
came Obrapia Street, or the Lane of Pious Works. Beyond and parallel to
it came Lamparilla Street, which earned this cognomen owing to the fact
that some progressive citizen in the early days hung a lantern in front
of his residence for the benefit of the public at large.
Next comes Amargua Street, or the Bitter Way. It is along Amargura that
certain pious and penitent monks were said to practice flagellation.
With shoulders bent, and on their knees, they invited the blows of whips
while wending their way out towards the edge of the city. Incidentally
they collected alms en route. On the southeast corner of Amargura and
Mercaderes Streets a peculiar cross in stucco, painted green, is built
into the wall of the house where, centuries ago, lived a high dignitary
of the church, before which all passing religious processions paused for
special prayers.
There is hardly a square within the old walled city that has not some
story or legend whose origin goes back to the days of Velasquez, De
Soto, Cortez of Mexico, and other celebrated conquerors of the New
World.
The Havana of today is a strange mingling of modern, reinforced cement
and stone structures, five or six stories high, with little one or
two-story, thick-walled, tile roofed samples of architecture that
prevailed three hundred years or more ago. City property, however, is
increasing so rapidly in value that many old landmarks along the narrow
streets of the wall inclosed section are being torn down and replaced
with large, well equipped office buildings.
[Illustration: COLON PARK
Colon Park, one of the most beautiful pleasure grounds of the Cuban
capital, is also known as the Campo de Marte, and is at the southern end
of the famous Prado. It is noted for its marvellous avenues of royal
palms. From it the Call de la Reina, once one of the most fashionable
streets of the city but now given up to business, runs westward toward
the Botanical Gardens.]
With the accumulation of sugar estates, coffee plantations, cattle
ranches and resultant wealth, people of means began to seek summer homes
beyond the walls of the old City. All men in those days went heavily
armed for any danger that might threaten, while numerous slaves
furnished protection from common thieves and highwaymen.
With the development of the outlying districts, trails and roads soon
began to reach out both to the west and south, followed some years later
by what were known as Caminos Reales or Royal Roads, connecting Havana
with Matanzas, Santa Clara, Cienfuegos, Trinidad, Sancti Spiritus,
Remedios, Camaguey and Santiago de Cuba.
One road, known still as El Cerro, ran southwest along the crest of a
ridge that led towards the western part of the Island and in after years
connected Havana with the big coffee plantations in the mountains and
foothills of Pinar del Rio. Along this road were built the first
suburban residences and country homes of the aristocracy of Havana.
Many of these places were cut out of dense woods, and on one of them,
until less than ten years ago, the original owner, the Conde de
Fernandina, retained a full square of dense primeval forest, not a tree
of which had been removed since the days of Columbus. This remnant of
virgin wilderness, located on the corner of El Cerro and Consejero
Arango Streets, was for some six years passed by the electric car line
of El Cerro.
All of this section of the City, of course, was long ago built up with
handsome residences that sheltered most of the old Cuban families, who
had inherited the right to titles, coats of arms, and other
paraphernalia pertaining to the monarchy of Spain. Tulipan Park marks
the center of this aristocratic district, and still retains much of its
old-time atmosphere of colonial prestige.
Further south ran another winding trail that gradually ascended a range
of hills, forming the divide from which the undulating surface slopes
towards the south coast, thirty miles away, where Velasquez located the
original site of Havana. This thoroughfare is known as Jesus del Monte,
or Jesus of the Mountain, and has become quite popular in recent years
on account of reputed healthfulness due to its elevation above the sea.
When the last remnants of the Spanish army returned to Spain in 1899,
that portion of the City called El Vedado, or The Forbidden, extending
from the Beneficencia, or Orphan Asylum, out to the Almandares River,
three miles distant, was nothing but a goat pasture, with a low sea
front of sharp coral rocks. Its soil was thin and the district
apparently had nothing to recommend it aside from its view of the ocean.
A little dummy engine pulled a shaky, shabby car out to the Almandares,
making four trips a day. Just why it ran at all was a mystery to the
inhabitants, since there was but little inducement to travel in that
direction. The entire expanse of land from the Santa Clara Battery to
the Almandares, and miles beyond, could have been purchased for a song,
but no one wanted it.
Two years later some “fool American” erected an attractive bungalow on
the line, about half way to the Almandares, and not long after, sign
boards could be seen with the notice, “Lots for sale,” which invariably
occasioned smiles, since there were no purchasers. But around the
bungalow were laid out pretty grounds, and the suggestion took root. Two
men of means erected beautiful places close by, and the building of
homes in the cactus-covered flats became a fad.
The price of lots, which began at ten cents a square meter, soon rose to
a dollar, then two dollars, five, ten, twenty-five, and today this
entire section from Havana to the Almandares and beyond, from the dog
teeth coral of the coast, up over the crest of the Principe Hill, is
covered with beautiful modern mansions with splendid grounds, and forms
the residential pride and show ground of the city.
This marvelous increase in development of suburban property, which
seems to continue with leaps and bounds, has long since passed the
Almandares River and reached out to the Playa and to the Country Club,
while even further west land is sold by the square meter and not by the
caballeria. All has taken place since Leonard Wood stepped into the
Palace as Governor-General of Cuba in the year 1900.
Another well-known highway that played an important part in the early
history of Havana was called La Reina. This wide, beautiful avenue
begins at the Parque Colon and runs due west until at the crest of the
first ridge the name changes to Carlos Tercero, passing between avenues
of laurels until it reaches the Quinto de los Molinos and the Botanical
Gardens. Passing on around the southern edge of the Principe Plateau,
the avenue continues on to Colon Cemetery, a beautiful spot, commanding
a view of the mouth of the Almandares, and that portion of Vedado lying
between it and the Gulf. Since Havana has but one cemetery for a city of
over 360,000 inhabitants, travel to the last resting place is somewhat
constant over this really beautiful road.
The view from the western terminus of Principe Hill is one of the finest
in Cuba’s capital. It was this crest that the English Colonel Howe,
after landing his force of three thousand men in 1762 at the mouth of
the Almandares River, ascended and from it saw for the first time the
old walled city lying at his feet, in all its primitive glory.
This commanding position on the western edge of the Principe Plateau,
with the City of Havana, the Botanical Gardens and the beautiful Quinto
de los Molinos lying at its base, was chosen for the site of the
University of Havana, and no more appropriate place for an institution
of this kind could have been selected. In the near future it will
undoubtedly become one of the most important seats of learning in Latin
America.
Near the head of the western extension of Havana Harbor is the Loma of
Atares, on whose summit rests a picturesque 18th century fortress of
the same name. The hill rises abruptly several hundred feet above the
level plain, and commands all approaches to the City both from the south
and the west.
The prado or meadow, that extended along the western front of Havana’s
embattled ramparts, is today changed into a wide esplanade, along which
runs a double driveway for automobiles and carriages. Through the
center, between double rows of laurels and flamboyans, are shaded walks,
shrubs and rare plants of the tropics. On both sides of this fashionable
street, sumptuous mansions, many of them homes of millionaires and
distinguished men of this western Paris, have been built since the
inauguration of the Republic. Attempts have been made at different times
to change the name of this avenue, but the people of Havana, up to the
present, have insisted on retaining the term first given it, the
“Prado,” that always lay between the City gates and the western forests.
On the east lies the former walled city with its narrow streets and
antique buildings and picturesque landmarks of bygone centuries. On the
west we have the more modern City, that extends for miles both south and
west, where beautiful residences have been erected, some of them
palatial in size and appointments. Several of the more prominent hotels,
too, are located on the Prado where it forms the western boundary of
“Parque Central,” that delightful retreat in the City’s center. In front
of the Park was the large gate that gave entrance and exit to the
traffic of the old time thoroughfares of Obispo and O’Reilly. Many
beautiful club buildings, whose cost ran into millions, are located
along the Prado.
At the southwestern corner of the Park is the new National Theatre, a
magnificent piece of architecture covering an entire block of ground,
and costing some $3,000,000. This theatre is the largest and best
equipped place of amusement in Havana, and at its entertainments may be
found the elite of the Island republic. The season of grand opera
continues for approximately six weeks every winter, during which the
best artists of Italy, France, Spain and the Metropolitan Opera of New
York furnish entertainment to a music-loving audience, whose taste is as
refined and critical as any in the world.
The “Parque Central” covers an area equivalent to two city squares, in
which many beautiful shade trees, including the evergreen laurel, the
flamboyan, date and royal palms, and other plants and flowers peculiar
to the tropics, add shade and beauty to the spot. In its center rises an
imposing statue in marble of José Marti.
From this central point the Prado continues south until it terminates in
the “Parque de los Indies.” Adjoining on the west is the “Parque de
Colon,” with an area equivalent to four large city blocks. Stately royal
palms, india rubber trees, flowering majaguas, cocoanuts and rare
tropical plants, render this park one of the most interesting in the
City.
Leading away from the head of the Parque de Colon we find a wide avenue
known as La Reina, that extends westward and upward to the summit of
Belascoain, where its width is more than doubled in the Avenue known as
Carlos Tercero. This continues west between two long rows of shade
trees, outside of which are two more drives running parallel to the main
or central avenue.
This continues out beyond the Botanical Gardens, the Quinto de los
Molinos, whence the main street curves around the crest of the Plateau
of El Principe, and continues on two miles to Colon Cemetery near the
further end of the Plateau, on the east bank of the Almandares.
Colon cemetery is one of the finest in Latin America. The monument
dedicated to the seventeen firemen who perished beneath the falling wall
of a burning house, consists of a single shaft some fifty feet in
height, surmounted by the figure of an angel, supporting in her arms an
exhausted fireman. Cameos in marble of the faces of the men who died in
the performance of duty, are cut around the base of the monument.
Another beautiful example of the sculptor’s art stands above the tomb of
the “Inocentes,” where lie buried the bodies of the eight youths who
were executed by the Spanish Volunteers, at the foot of the Prado on
November 27, 1871. In this cemetery are buried also many of Cuba’s
famous men and women whose graves are carefully kept, and on Decoration
Day are visited by thousands of people, friends, relatives and admirers,
who leave their tributes of flowers, kind thoughts and tears.
Music in all its varied forms, from grand opera to the rhythmic beat of
the kettle drum, (which plays such an important part in the orchestras
of native negroes) probably furnishes the chief source of pleasure and
entertainment in the Republic of Cuba. The Havanese have always been a
music loving people, and really excellent musicians are common in the
Capital.
The Municipal Band of Havana, with some eighty artists, under the
direction of Guillermo Tomas, furnishes music, either in Central Park or
the Malecon, several evenings each week. It is in attendance also at
nearly all official functions, and funerals of prominent men, soldiers,
and officers of the Government.
This same band has won at different times the admiration and approval of
many audiences in the United States, including that of critical Boston,
where concerts were given in Symphony Hall in 1915. It was also heard at
New York City’s Tercentenary Celebration during the fall of the same
year. Director Tomas is very proud of the medal awarded to his band by
the judges of the Buffalo Exposition in 1901.
Many other excellent bands belonging to the Navy, and to different
branches of the Army, are noted for their music, and share with the
Municipal in entertaining the public during different evenings of the
week at the Malecon, and at various parks scattered throughout the City.
The Conservatory of Music located on Galiano Street near Concordia
Street has turned out many brilliant artists during its career of half a
century or more. Recitals of music are usually held in the National
Theatre or in the Salons of the Academy of Arts and Sciences on Cuba
Street. In these halls nearly all the celebrated artists of the world
have given concerts, and hardly a week passes without entertainments by
the best local talent.
Next to music, driving, either in automobiles or open carriages, over
the beautiful “Careteras” radiating from the City, furnishes probably
the most popular form of diversion in Cuba. Nearly every evening
throughout the year, the view of the Malecon where the Prado and the
beautiful Gulf Shore Drive meet is a scene of animation not soon to be
forgotten.
The circular Glorieta, with its dome-shaped roof, supported on heavy
stone columns, shelters some one of the famous National bands while
hundreds of people in machines, in carriages, on stone benches and iron
seats, enjoy the music and between selections chat about the various
topics of the day. From eight until ten, under the shadow of the grim
old fortress “la Punta,” and in the blaze of electric lights which line
the Prado and the Malecon, this diversion holds the public, including
all grades of society, from the highest officials to the humblest clerk,
or girl worker in the tobacco factories, who enjoy the benefits of a
true democracy, social and political and financial.
Some two miles west of the mouth of the Almandares, a little inlet known
as La Playa, fairly well protected from the outer sea, furnishes the
nearest bathing beach for the citizens of Havana and visitors from
abroad. Since the temperature of the Gulf Stream which sweeps along this
part of the northern coast is practically uniform throughout the year,
bathing may be indulged in with pleasure both summer and winter. In the
latter season, however, owing to cool winds that sometimes blow across
the Gulf from the north, only visitors from the United States and
tourists take advantage of this sport. The residents of Havana confine
their bathing season largely to the strictly summer months from May
until November.
The Havana Yacht Club stands just back from the beach, and from its
front extends some two hundred feet out into the water a splendid
concrete pier, shaded by canvas awnings, and patronized by members of
the club and its guests. This club was established during the first
Government of Intervention and counts among its members many of the best
families of Havana. The interest in yachting has grown rapidly and every
year brings with it interesting sloop yacht and motor boat races, held
either at the Playa or at Varadero, near Cardenas.
During the bathing season the Marine Band furnishes music from five
until seven in the afternoons. This is enjoyed not only by the members
of the Yacht Club, but also by crowds who throng the beach for a mile or
more on either side.
The finest beach of Cuba, however, is known as the Varadero, located on
the sea side of Punta Icaca, a narrow strip of land that projects into
the Bay of Cardenas. Here many of the regattas are held during the
summer months, when visitors from the capital go to Cardenas to enjoy
the twenty mile stretch of outside surf bathing. Bathing places cut out
of the coral rocks along the beach of Vedado are also used, especially
by the citizens of that locality.
Fishing is a sport that furnishes most enjoyable entertainment for those
who are fond of it. Handsome specimens of the finny tribe are frequently
brought in by men and boys, who drift in small boats along the coast, a
mile or so out, and fish both for the table and for profit. Tourists
often find amusement in going out in motor launches at night and fishing
for shark off the mouth of the harbor. Since sharks are usually
plentiful, and of sufficient size to give the angler a tussle before
being brought up to the boat and dispatched, this form of amusement
appeals as a novelty to many who come from the interior of the United
States.
The markets of Havana are full of excellent fish that are caught all
along the Gulf Stream, between Cuba and the coast of Florida. These are
brought in sloops provided with the usual fish well, which keeps them
fresh until thrown on the wharf just before daylight. The varieties most
sought for, or prized, are the red snapper, known in Spanish as the
“Pargo,” the sword fish, and the baracuta, which are splendid fish, from
two to three feet in length and very game, when caught with hook and
line.
Of the smaller fish, the Spanish mackerel, the mullet, the needle fish,
and scores of other varieties are always found in abundance. The
pompano, peculiar to the Gulf of Mexico, owing to its delicious flavor
and its entire lack of small bones is probably the most prized of all,
and commands a very high price when it reaches the table of fashionable
hotels in the United States.
The game of Jai Alai was introduced here from the Basque Provinces of
Spain, during the first Government of Intervention in 1900, and became
very popular with both Cubans and visitors from the United States.
General Leonard Wood and his aides soon acquired the habit of visiting
the Fronton and spending an hour or so in practice every morning.
Jai Alai is played in a building erected for the purpose with a court
some two hundred feet in length, inclosed on three sides by smooth stone
walls, perhaps forty feet in height, and having a concrete floor. It is
played with two opponents on each side known as the blues and the
whites. The ball is similar to that of the tennis court, made in Spain
with a high degree of resiliency and costing five dollars. It is thrown
from a long narrow wicker basket, or scoop, slightly curved at the
point, to retain the ball while swung to the head or end wall. The
gloved part of the instrument is firmly strapped to the forearm of the
player. The ball is caught in this sling-like scoop, and from its length
of some thirty inches or more is driven with great force from the
further end of the court to the opposite wall. On the rebound it must be
caught by one of the two opponents, on either fly or first bound,
otherwise a point is scored against the side that falls.
A three-inch band is painted around the end of the court, parallel with
the floor and about four feet above it. The ball must strike the wall
above this band, and the science of the play is to drive it into the
corner at such an angle that your opponents will find it impossible to
catch it as it caroms back.
Once the game starts, the ball never stops its flight through the air,
from the wicker scoop to the end of the wall and back, until an error is
made which counts against the side that fails to catch it. And since the
player cannot hold the ball in his wicker sling for an instant, the
action is decidedly rapid and the excitement soon becomes intense.
A player may occasionally be seen to leap into the air, catch and fire
the ball back to the end of the court, he himself falling flat on his
back, leaving his partner to take care of the return. Thirty points
constitute the usual game and about an hour is required in which to play
it. Jai Alai was suspended during the latter part of President Estrada
Palma’s term, on account of the heavy betting that accompanied it, but
owing to insistent popular demand, it was again installed at the Fronton
in the Spring of 1918.
The game of baseball, brought to Cuba in the year 1900, from the very
start gained a popularity among the natives that has never ceased for a
moment. It is today the national sport of Cuba, and quite a number of
high-priced players from Cuba have occupied prominent places in the big
league clubs of the United States. The local clubs of Havana play a
splendid game, as several crack teams from the United States have
discovered to their surprise and cost, many of them having been sent
home badly beaten.
The king of sports, however, in Havana, is horse racing, first
introduced from the United States in 1907. Such was its popularity that
capitalists some four years ago, were encouraged to erect in the suburb
of Marianao the finest racing pavilion in the West Indies. The mile
track and the beautiful grounds which surround it are all that lovers of
the sport could desire; while the view from the Grand Stand, across a
tropical landscape whose hillsides are covered with royal palms, with
dark green mountains silhouetting the distant horizon, gives us one of
the most picturesque and attractive race tracks in the world.
Between the Plaza and Camp Columbia are located the golf links of
Havana, which owing to the natural beauty of the grounds, and the charm
of the surrounding country, with its view of the ocean and distant palm
covered hills, render golfing a pleasure for at least three hundred and
thirty days a year. These natural advantages have made the links of the
Country Club of Havana celebrated in all places where golfing news
reaches those who are devoted to the game.
In the various public buildings in Havana occupied by the Government of
Cuba may be traced many styles of architecture that have followed each
other from the beginning of the 16th century to well into the 20th. The
old Fort of La Fuerza, that dates from 1538, is now occupied by the
Secretary of War and Navy, and from it orders are issued directing the
management of the two arms of the service, which in Cuba are combined
under one directorate. Aside from modern windows, shutters and
up-to-date office furniture, no changes have been made in the general
outline or contour of this antiquated old fortress, whose entrance and
drawbridge face the Templete close by on the spot where the residents of
Cuba held their early Town Councils and listened to the singing of their
first mass, four centuries ago.
Next in line of antiquity would come the old San Franciscan Convent,
that in 1916 was converted into a spacious and artistic post-office,
where the Director General of Posts and Telegraphs looks after that
important branch of the Government Service.
Next in point of age comes the home of the Department of Public Works in
the Maestranza, along the northeastern front of which runs a remnant of
the old sea wall, extending along the west shore of the harbor from the
Cathedral to the head of Cuba Street. This thick walled building, of
only two stories, began as an iron and brass foundry, in which cannon
were made several centuries ago and during later years of Spanish
Colonial occupancy was used as a warehouse for rifles, sabres, pistols
and small arms in general. Here were outfitted officers and men of the
Spanish Volunteers, or loyalists of the Island, during Cuba’s century of
revolutions. With the occupation of American troops in 1900, this
building, covering over a block of ground, was converted into offices of
the Sanitary Department and allied branches, who vouched for the city’s
health and cleanliness during that period. It was here that Major
Gorgas, now Major General, held sway and directed the campaign that
exterminated the stegomyia mosquito, and thus put an end to the dreaded
scourge of yellow fever in Cuba. It is at present occupied by the
various branches of Public Works under the direction of Col. José R.
Villalon, who has earned the reputation of being one of the most
tireless and persistent workers in the Government. The National Library,
whose entrance faces on Chacon Street at present, shares the
accommodations of the Maestranza.
The Department of Sanitation, with all of its vast ramifications, whose
jurisdiction covers the entire Island, is located in an old colonial
building fronting on Belascoain near the corner of Carlos Tercero
Street, and with its ample patio covers an entire block of ground. This
Department is located more nearly at the center of modern Havana than
any of the other Government offices.
One of the oldest public buildings, and the largest used for purposes of
Government, known as La Hacienda, is located on the water front between
Obrapia Street and the Plaza de Armas. During the many years of Spanish
rule, not only the Custom House, but nearly all the more important
branches of Government, were located within its walls. With the
inauguration of the Republic, the National Treasury was installed in the
southwest corner of the building, under the direction of Fernando
Figuerdo, who has retained this position of trust during all changes of
administration. The remainder of the ground floor is occupied by the
National Lottery and offices connected with that Institution, which
extend into the entresuelo, or half-story, just above. The second floor
is occupied by the Hacienda, or Treasury Department, whose offices
surround the central patio on all four sides. The third and fourth
floors are devoted to the central offices of the Department of
Agriculture, including the headquarters of its Secretary, General
Sanchez Agramonte. The upper floor, or azotea, is used by the Laboratory
of the Department of Agriculture. The Hacienda is rather an imposing
building from the Bay, on which it faces, and plays a very important
part in the Government work of the Island.
To the outside world the best known building is probably the old
Governor-General’s palace, fronting on the Plaza de Armas and occupying
the square of ground between Tacon and Mercaderes Streets and between
Obispo and O’Reilly Streets. The palace is two stories in height and
belongs to what may be termed the modern colonial style of Cuban
architecture, with very high ceilings, enormous doors and tall
iron-barred windows that descend to the floor. The interior of the
Palace is occupied by a very pretty palm court with a statue of
Christopher Columbus posing in the center, facing the wide deep entrance
that opens from the Plaza. This building was erected in 1834, as a
residence and headquarters for the Governors General sent out from
Spain, many of whom have occupied the Palace between that date and the
year 1899, when the last Governor General took his departure. It was
here that General Martinez Campos, in the winter of 1896, penned his
cablegram to the Spanish sovereign, stating that Generals Maximo Gomez
and Antonio Maceo, with their insurgent forces, had crossed the Trocha
into Pinar del Rio, for which reason he tendered his resignation,
acknowledging his failure to arrest the tide of Cuba’s War of
Independence. Within this same palace General Weyler planned his scheme
of reconcentration, or herding of the pacificos, non-combatants, old
men, women and children, into barbed wire stockades, where a quarter of
a million of them died of exposure, disease and hunger. It is said that
when informed of their condition and the fearful death rate, he
remarked, “Excellent! Let these renegade mothers die. We will replace
them with women who will bear children loyal to Spain.” It was here also
that his more humane and civilized successor, General Blanco, who in the
last days of 1897 had tried hard to save Spain’s one remaining colony in
America, felt the shock of the explosion that sank the battleship
_Maine_ in Havana Harbor in February, 1898, and exclaimed as he looked
across the bay toward the wreck: “This will mark the saddest day of
Spain’s history.” Within the same room too, Cuba’s first President, the
beloved and revered Tomas Estrada Palma, with tears of humiliation in
his eyes, handed his resignation as President to the American Secretary
of War, William H. Taft, and left for his almost forgotten farm in the
forests back of Manzanillo, where he passed his last days as a martyr to
the greed and cruelty of his own people.
Diagonally across from the old Presidential Palace, on the northwest
corner of the Plaza de Armas, stands the Senate Chamber, a two-story
building of the same attractive architecture found in the old Palace. It
is in a way a companion to this building, having been designed and
directed as the home and office of the various Lieutenant-Generals of
the Island, in which capacity it served until the termination of Spanish
rule in Cuba. During the two years of American Intervention, various
military departments made their headquarters within this structure, but
with the installation of the Republic in 1902 it was formally dedicated
to the use of the Senate, and officers connected with that branch of the
Legislative government. The lofty salon fronting the Plaza de Armas
served as the Senate Chamber. The 24 members of the upper house held
sessions there on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays of each week. As with
the Presidential Palace, the somewhat lavish use of marble in patios,
floors, stairways, balconies, etc., is much in evidence in this
building.
Just north of the Senate Chamber, and covering the east side of the long
block on Tacon Street, between the Palace and the Bay, are located the
Bureau of Secret Service, the Department of Government, and those of
State of Justice, all installed at the present time in the same
building.
This building during Colonial days was occupied by the Department of
Engineers, and with the beginning of American intervention was turned
over to Brigadier General William A. Ludlow, to whose energy is due the
credit of rapidly and effectively cleaning up the city of Havana after
its sanitary abandonment of three centuries duration. General Ludlow
shared the building with General Enoch Crowder. The Palace of State and
Justice has been remodeled and renovated from foundation to azotes. All
of its floors and most of its walls are now finished and decorated in a
manner appropriate to the uses to which it is dedicated.
During the regime of General Leonard Wood, through an official decree of
that most competent commander, three public buildings were added to the
capital of the Republic, each now bearing his name in an appropriate
placque or tablet in the wall. The first of these was a Bacteriological
Laboratory, now known as the General Wood Laboratory, located on Carlos
Tercero Street in front of the Botanical Gardens. Bacteriological
experiments, which up to that time had been conspicuous by their
absence, have since been carried on faithfully in Havana under the
direction of the celebrated expert in that science, Dr. Aristides
Agramonte.
Next in order was a handsome three-story stone building, located on
Belascoain a block from the corner of Carlos Tercero Street, dedicated
to the school of Industrial Arts and Sciences. The instruction given in
this Institution since its foundation in 1901, has been efficient, and
of excellent service to the youth of Havana, many of whom have taken
very kindly to this much needed innovation.
The third of these institutions fathered by General Wood is the Academy
of Sciences and Fine Arts, located on Cuba Street near Amargura Street.
This institution has been a boon and a blessing to the intellectual life
of Havana, since for the first time suitable quarters were offered to
celebrated lecturers, artists and musicians, who find in Havana
appreciative audiences, and where, since the founding of the Academy,
local talent had a fitting theatre in which to display its merit.
Since the beginning of the Republic in 1902, under President Estrada
Palma, the old Governor General’s Palace was found rather limited in its
accommodations. Not only was it compelled to shelter the President and
his family, together with the many offices belonging to the Executive
Department, but it also shared its accommodations with the City Council,
and many of the dependencies of that Institution. With the rapid growth
of the City, and the unavoidable increase in the work of all
departments, consequent on the development of commerce and trade with
the outside world, these quarters, each year, have been found
increasingly cramped and unsatisfactory.
During the regime of President José Miguel Gomez, a new Presidential
palace was planned, and work was begun on it on the site formerly
occupied by the Villa Nueva Station, belonging to the United Railways of
Havana. This ample space, facing for several blocks on the Prado and
Colon Park, was exchanged, by an Act of Congress, for the old Arsenal
Grounds on the water front, desired by the railways for a Grand Central
Station, for which they were excellently adapted. The plans of this
structure, as well as the beginning of the work, were found to be most
unsuited to a Presidential Palace, and by order of President Menocal, at
the suggestion of the Secretary of Public Works, work was discontinued
and abandoned for other plans and better construction.
Previous to the inauguration of President Menocal funds were voted for
the erection of a Provincial Palace or State House, on the property
belonging to the Government located between Monserrate and Zuleuta
Streets, just at the head of the long, beautiful stretch of open land
that sweeps down to the sea from the crest of the low hill, where rests
the last remnant of the city walls. This location, with its view of the
Luz Caballero Park, of the entrance of the Bay of Havana and the Morro
Headland on the opposite side, is one of the finest in the City, and
naturally appealed to the artistic taste of General Menocal as the true
location for a Presidential Palace. The Provincial Building had been
planned on a scale altogether unsuited for the offices of a Provincial
Council, whose members were limited to less than ten, and whose services
were of so little utility that several proposals for their
discontinuance had been considered. More than all, funds for the
completion of the building had been more than exhausted, and large debts
to contractors were pending. To relieve this emergency and liquidate the
indebtedness, it was finally resolved by the National Congress to take
over the property, reimbursing the Provincial Government with the
$540,000 which they had expended, and to dedicate this building to the
purpose of a Presidential Palace that would be more appropriate to the
demands of the Executive Department in a rapidly growing Republic.
A million dollars was appropriated for this purpose, which sum has since
been augmented in order to carry out the interior decoration of the
building along lines that would be in keeping with its proposed use. The
new Presidential Palace is four stories in height built of white stone,
the architecture being a harmonious combination of the Medieval and
Renaissance, terminating with a magnificent dome that rises from the
center of the building. The interior decoration of the new Palace has
had the benefit of skilled experts, and everything is in harmony with
the purpose to which the building was dedicated. The great Salon de
Honor is in the style of Louis XVI, while the State Dining Room is
modeled after the Italian Renaissance. The main entrance, principal
staircase, the hall and the general dining-room are of Spanish
Renaissance. The Salon de Damas is decorated in modern French style. All
of the other rooms that pertain to the personal equipment of the Palace,
and comprise the east wing, follow the same general line of architecture
and decorations, varying only in design and colors. The Palace is beyond
doubt, in location, design and decoration, one of the most beautiful and
interesting structures of its kind in the western hemisphere.
Work on the new capitol building, which is to replace the architectural
mistake of its original founders, was begun in 1918, with the purpose of
making this building the most imposing and stately modern structures of
its kind in the West Indies. It will be four stories in height and cover
5,940 square meters of ground, with a floor space of 38,195 square
meters. Above this spacious structure will rise a splendid dome in
keeping with the architecture of the main building. One half of the
building will be devoted to the use of the House of Representatives,
while the other will be occupied by the Senate. It will contain offices
and apartments for the Vice President, Committee halls, etc., and will
be furnished with all of the conveniences and improvements of modern
times. The Hall of Representatives will accommodate 133 members, and may
be increased up to 218. The Senate Chamber has ample capacity for the 24
senators, with accommodations in each of these Congressional halls for
visitors and the general public. Elevators will reach all floors and the
interior decorations will be in keeping with the purpose to which the
new Capitol Building is devoted.
During the Presidency of General Mario Menocal, work was begun on the
National Hospital, which when completed, will be one of the finest
institutions of its kind in the world. The grounds are located on the
northwest corner of Carlos Tecero and Belascoain Streets, occupying the
eastern extension of the Botanical Gardens that adjoin the hospital
grounds on the west. The location, near the center of what may be termed
modern Havana, is excellent, and the work as planned will constitute a
very important adjunct to the maintenance of health in Havana.
The plans contemplate the erection of 32 modern buildings, constructed
of white limestone and reinforced concrete. Sixteen, or one-half of
these had been finished in the fall of 1918. This hospital when complete
will cost approximately a million and a half of dollars, and will rank
with those of the best of America and Europe. The institution has been
named in memory of General Calixto Garcia.