- for the hotel in Algeciras see Hotel Sevilla (Algeciras)
The Hotel Mercure Sevilla Havane is a historic hotel in Havana, Cuba.
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The hotel was built as the Hotel Sevilla in 1908. It consisted of a four-story Moorish Revival structure, designed by architects Arellano y Mendozaon, located on Calle Trocadero, next to the Paseo del Prado, between the Malecón and Parque Central. It was bought by John McEntee Bowman and Charles Francis Flynn in 1919 and renamed the Sevilla-Biltmore Hotel. In 1924, they constructed a huge ten-story tower wing, with a rooftop ballroom, designed by noted New York architects Schultze & Weaver.
In 1939, the hotel was purchased by Italian-Uruguayan mobster Amleto Battisti y Lora. The Sevilla-Biltmore's casino was closely associated with Havana's mafia network, being part-owned by Santo Trafficante, Jr. Mobs destroyed the casino in early January 1959 as Fidel Castro's rebel army overtook Havana, and Amleto Battisti took refuge in the Uruguayan embassy.
The hotel was also featured in Graham Greene's novel Our Man in Havana as the location where the protagonist joins the British secret service.
The hotel is owned by the Cuban state-run Gran Caribe hotel group. It has been managed since 1996 by the French Accor chain, first under their Sofitel division, and more recently under their Mercure Hotels division as the Hotel Mercure Sevilla Havane. Accor announced plans in 2017 to renovate the Sevilla and transfer it to their boutique MGallery division.
References
External links
- Hotel Mercure Sevilla Havane fficial website
- Hotel Sevilla fan website
- Hotel Sevilla cubaism.com
