Cuba in a Tailspin: Building Collapses and Blackouts

I accept all the points above however, perhaps because of Cuba’s poverty and historical disdain for colonial ‘era buildings (symbols of ‘colonial oppression’ and post-independence corrupt decadence, many of these buildings would have been demolished. Yes, many have crumbled into dust. Nevertheless, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Cubans realised that tourists with dollars and euros were not interested in the brutalist concrete architecture of the COMECON ‘era, for example the Russian Embassy, and much more taken by the 16th Century Spanish colonial, Baroque, Neo Classical and Romanesque Revival of the colonial period, and post-independence (pre-Castro) Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Modernism and Bauhaus and 1950’s American style of Architecture that preceded the Communist Revolution. It is precisely for this reason that various state tourist enterprises (some part of the military complex), and international hotel corporations have invested in these old buildings as bars, restaurants and hotels for the global tourist market.
Had these buildings faced the brutal reality of 1950s – 2000 Latin American business forces, and their concept of ‘urban renewal’, many would have been demolished for ‘commercial purposes’ to maximize returns to investors, leaving a small core of revived colonial building in Habana Vieja for tourists.

2 thoughts on “Cuba in a Tailspin: Building Collapses and Blackouts”

Andy Husain

October 9, 2023 at 11:18 am

I accept all the points above however, perhaps because of Cuba’s poverty and historical disdain for colonial ‘era buildings (symbols of ‘colonial oppression’ and post-independence corrupt decadence, many of these buildings would have been demolished. Yes, many have crumbled into dust. Nevertheless, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Cubans realised that tourists with dollars and euros were not interested in the brutalist concrete architecture of the COMECON ‘era, for example the Russian Embassy, and much more taken by the 16th Century Spanish colonial, Baroque, Neo Classical and Romanesque Revival of the colonial period, and post-independence (pre-Castro) Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Modernism and Bauhaus and 1950’s American style of Architecture that preceded the Communist Revolution. It is precisely for this reason that various state tourist enterprises (some part of the military complex), and international hotel corporations have invested in these old buildings as bars, restaurants and hotels for the global tourist market.
Had these buildings faced the brutal reality of 1950s – 2000 Latin American business forces, and their concept of ‘urban renewal’, many would have been demolished for ‘commercial purposes’ to maximize returns to investors, leaving a small core of revived colonial building in Habana Vieja for tourists.
Carlyle MacDuff

October 8, 2023 at 10:57 am

I am reminded that fifteen years ago, when asked about Cuba by a group of friends, I replied that it could be described in one word: CRUMBLING My opinion has not changed, but the process is accelerating!

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