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Bacardí Building
In the center of Havana, along the Calle Monserrate you will find the former
headquarters of Bacardí, the famous rum company. The building
dates from 1930 and shows a close kinship to New York's art deco towers.
It's a fantastic construction with polychrome ceramic decorations.
The tower was one of the first skyscrapers in Havana and is crowned with
the Bacardí bat, that is also used as a weathercock. The granite
was imported from Bavaria and Norway. The Bacardí building
is in good shape, and still contains a lot of the original interior decorations.
In 2001 it was under renovation by an Italian-Cuban association.
The building was designed by the architects Esteban Rodríguez Castells,
Rafael Fernández Ruenes and José Menéndez. Mies
van der Rohe drew in 1958 the plans for a new headquarter for the Bacardí
Rum Company. The revolution of 1959 made the plans unexecuted.
The Bacardí tower, seen from the street, and some details of the
facade and the tower. Mind the fine brick work with the stones used
in different positions and the ceramics.
Details of the facade, caught from the terraces. The abstract geometrical
ornamentation in orange and blue reminds of the old Central American Indian
cultures.
Photographs of the interior, taken from the bar on the mezzanine floor.
Forget about Hemingway and try your quality cocktail here.
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