The Hotel Ambos Mundos (, '' Both Worlds Hotel'') is a hotel in Havana, Cuba. Built with a square form with five floors, it has an eclectic set of characteristics of 20th-century style architecture. It was built in 1924 on a site that previously had been occupied by an old family house on the corner of '' Calle Obispo'' and ''Mercaderes'' (Bishop and Merchants Streets) in

Old Havana Old Havana ( es, link=no, La Habana Vieja) is the city-center (downtown) and one of the 15 municipalities (or boroughs) forming Havana, Cuba. It has the second highest population density in the city and contains the core of the original city of ...

. It is a frequent tourist destination because it was home to the popular writer

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...

for seven years in the 1930s.

History

From colonial times the zone of Old Havana in which the building is now sited was populated by a diverse collection of family houses. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Spanish retailer Antolín Blanco Arias bought a family house on the site, from his office colleague Manuel Llerandi y Tomé. The new owner demolished the very old house to construct the hotel, the work being in charge of the architect Luis Wise Hernandez. In the 1930s this hotel was the property of the Asper family. Hotel Ambos Mundos was a family hotel, that attracted writers, actors and actresses, and many Americans. This hotel since has gained international note from its most famous long-time tenant: in 1932 a room on the upper (5th) floor became the “first home” in Cuba of writer Ernest Hemingway, who enjoyed the views of Old Havana, and the harbor in which he fished frequently in his yacht '' Pilar''. Hemingway rented the room for $1.50 per night ($1.75 for double occupancy) until mid-1939, when he transferred his winter residence from

Key West Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it cons ...

(a U.S. island 90 miles from Cuba) to a house in the hills near Havana,

Finca Vigia In English usage, a ''finca'' (; ) refers to a piece of rural or agricultural land, typically with a cottage, farmhouse or estate building present, and often adjacent to a woodland or plantation. Overview Especially in tourism, the term has r ...

, which he shared with

Martha Gellhorn Martha Ellis Gellhorn (8 November 1908 – 15 February 1998) was an American novelist, travel writer, and journalist who is considered one of the great war correspondents of the 20th century. Gellhorn reported on virtually every major worl ...

(they were married in 1940). Hemingway began his novel ''

For Whom the Bell Tolls ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1940. It tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer attached to a Republican guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. As a dynamiter, he is assigne ...

'', a novel of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

which he had witnessed over the previous several years, in the room in the Ambos Mundos, on 1 March 1939. Today, his hotel room, No. 511, is presented as if the author might have left it, and is a small museum in the middle of the establishment, with tours given regularly in the daytime. The corner of the ground floor hotel lobby also has two walls of framed photographs dedicated to Hemingway. In 1987, the hotel underwent some small restoration, with more complete work finalized in 1997 to turn it once again into a luxurious hotel reminiscent of its time. Between 2004 and 2005, further maintenance was carried out, cleaning and painting the Hotel's facades.

Structure

As originally conceived, the three-story building plan had the following distribution: the ground floor served as a commercial center, and in the upper two floors were the rooms for the guests. The fused concrete and steel structure of the building gave an eclectic and modern character for its time of manufacture. In 1924, the original plan was extended, gaining height to a final five stories. Finally, the structure was officially declared habitable on 6 January 1925. Five years after construction a hall was placed in the roof giving views of the Harbor from the top of the building and adding a kitchen and services. Presently the building contains its original still-functioning

Otis Otis may refer to: Arts and entertainment Characters * Otis (Superman), in the films ''Superman'' and ''Superman II'' and related DC Comics media ** Otis Graves, in the TV series ''Supergirl'' * Otis (''The Walking Dead''), in the Image Comics ...

screen-cage elevators, and a lobby with a low open freshwater fountain/pool in which turtles are maintained.Program of b c d Havana Radio. "Hotel Both-Worlds: Street Bishop no. 153 corner to Merchants” (in Spanish). Retrieved 22 November 2009. Obtained from :es:Hotel Ambos Mundos (La Habana).

References

Gallery

Ernest Hemingway, Hotels Room-Laslovarga.JPG Hotel Ambos Mundos in Old Havana.JPG Hotel Ambos Mundos 07.jpg Hotel Ambos Mundos 03.jpg

External links

Hotel Website in English.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ambos Mundos Hotel Ambos Mundos Hotel Ambos Mundos Hotels in Havana Hotel buildings completed in 1924 Hotels established in 1924