HAVANA ARCHITECTURAL GUIDE

This guide focuses on Havana's 20th-century architecture, emphasizing the startling work produced immediately after the revolution of 1959 and bringing the story up to date as Cuban architects continue to find idioms that express the unique culture of the island.

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Cuba's colonial architectural heritage (Havana is a Unesco World Heritage Site) is well known. The old centre of Havana is a romantic, if almost terminally dilapidated, collection of fine, two-story buildings. Restoration work has finally started and will ensure that Havana remains a destination for anyone who gets pleasure from colonial architecture. As well as chronicling the progress of renovation, this guide focuses on Havana's 20th-century architecture, emphasizing the startling work produced immediately after the revolution of 1959 and bringing the story up to date as Cuban architects continue to find idioms that express the unique culture of the island. Among the many important 20th-century buildings featured are the art-deco Edificio Bacardi, the Hotel Nacional and the huge Soviet-influenced apartment blocks built in the city's outskirts in the 1960s.