- Hotel Tryp Habana Libre
Hotel Tryp Habana Libre is one of the larger hotels in
Cuba , situated inVedado ,Havana . The hotel has 572 rooms in a 25 floor tower at Calle 23 ("La Rampa") and Calle L.The hotel was built as the Habana Hilton, under the personal auspices of President
Fulgencio Batista , as an investment by the pension plan of the Cuban Catering Workers' Union, and was operated by the AmericanHilton Hotels group. It was designed by the Los Angeles firmWelton Becket & Associates, who had previously built the Beverly Hilton, as well as theCapitol Records Building in Hollywood.Opened on March 22, 1958, with
Conrad Hilton himself in attendance, the Habana Hilton was Latin America's tallest and largest hotel. It boasted aTrader Vic's , as well as a casino, supper club, pool and rooftop bar.Following the entry of
Fidel Castro into Havana, on January 8, 1959, the hotel became his headquarters. The casinos throughout the city were briefly closed, but protests by Havana casino workers led to their reopening in February. The hotel remained in operation as a Hilton for two more unsuccessful years as relations between the US and Cuba worsened, until October 1960, when all American hotels in Cuba were nationalized and the casinos permanently closed. The hotel was then renamed the Hotel Habana Libre (Hotel Free Havana).In 1996 the Spanish
Sol Meliá chain assumed management of the hotel. It was placed in their Tryp division of urban hotels and renamed Hotel Tryp Habana Libre. It was renovated between 1996 and 1997. Among the highlights of the work was the restoration of an enormous original mural by artistAmelia Peláez over the main entrance which had spent decades hidden from public view.External links
* [http://www.solmeliacuba.com/hotel/tryp-habanalibre Sol Meliá Cuba - Habana Libre] - Sol Meliá Cuba official website
* [http://www.solmelia.com/solNew/hoteles/jsp/C_Hotel_Description.jsp?codigoHotel=5977 Sol Meliá - Habana Libre] - Sol Meliá International official web site
* [http://www.hotelhabanalibre.com/ Hotel Habana Libre .com] - hotel fansite
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