Edificio Someillan (Havana)

Cuba / Ciudad de la Habana / Havanna / Havana
This building was constructed in 1957. I was talking to a (only spanish speaking) taxi driver in Havana in February 2011 and from what i could understand it would seem that this building is used by both Cubans and tourists as acommodation. Very nice to look at and in very good condition from the outside.

Although i can find no documented proof as yet, from all research and examination of satalite photographs it seems there is a rooftop pool. Working out all angles i beleive this to be the building seen in the very first scene of "Our Man in Havana" (and not the hotel capri, as always thought.
 Add place (company, shop, etc.) to this building
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   23°8'39"N   82°23'0"W

Comments

  • You are correct. There is a rooftop pool on the top floor (29th) which provides the opening scene in Our Man In Havana. This is documented in a monograph called “Un modernismo vanidoso: Espacios de ocio turísticos durante los años cincuenta en Miami y La Habana” by Styliane Philippou, available online.
  • Thanks for the web link Keith. I have a Cuban friend who disagreed with my opinion but this adds to confirm my view - thanks. Do you have any idea if it is possible to get to the roof of this building anymore? I notice from the article in the link you gave that it was part of the penthouse on the 29th floor.
  • Adding the Someillan building to the short list of buildings serving 1950s Havana tourist industry is a disservice to the truth, perhaps echoing Castro´s denunciation of such industry as servitude to Americans. Fast forward 35 years and he has changed his mind and, micro-managing once again the Cuban economy, he opened his revolutionary arms to American travelers. The only vanity in play here was Castro´s. I base my opinion on the fact that at the time I worked as a draftsman for the folks who designed the concrete structure of the Someillan building. Its main designer, Cuban engineer Bernardo Deschapelles commented with me that he actually had nightmares about a hurricane hitting Havana and battering the building, because the very high load of a pool full of water at the top of the building created an immense momentum load for such a slender building. He also told me that the slender quality of the building forced him to design it as an immense column. Being marketed as a condo complex, most, if not all, tenants were private parties, not tourists. And the occupant of the top floor and its pool was no other than Mr. Someillan himself (I believe he was a retired army man but I´m not sure). Mr. Deschapelles, was in practice in Puerto Rico untill recently, a professor of Engineering and head of its Earthquake Advisory Board among other things. He was also a pioneer in innovative concrete, flights-of-fancy, one-of-a-kind structures in Latin America, way before Calatrava.
This article was last modified 13 years ago