av福利社

Highlights from av福利社ARA: Cuba

May 10, 2016 by Jacqueline Spafford and Jeffrey Klee, av福利社ARA Co-Editors
For this month’s av福利社ARA feature, we celebrate the restoration of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba by highlighting Cuban content. This includes photographs taken during the av福利社 tour to the island in 2012. The collection is particularly strong in images of twentieth-century buildings both before and after the Cuban Revolution but also includes material from the colonial period. 

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Cuba-1
Diego Velásquez House, Santiago, Cuba, said to be the oldest house in Cuba, built 1516-1530. John C. Blew, photographer.

Cuba-2
Hotel Florida, Havana, Cuba, begun 1836, converted to hotel c. 1856. Throughout the 20th century, this structure had many functions (public offices, warehouse, residential, bank) until it was remodeled and restored by the Office of the City Historian under the architects Noris Bacallao, Lina Alba Díaz, and Rafael Palli. Erica Morawski, photographer, 2012.

Cuba-3
Church of the Savior of the World, Havana, Cuba, 1850. John C. Blew, photographer.

Cuba-4
Mira y Rosich, Ricardo Galbis, and Vincente Llorenas, Hotel Varadero, Varadero, Cuba, 1949-50. Erica Morawski, photographer, 2012.

Cuba-5
Aquiles Capablanca, Office of the Comptroller (currently Ministry of the Interior), Plaza de la Revolución, Havana, Cuba, 1953. Image of Ernesto "Che" Guevara added later. Erica Morawski, photographer, 2012.

Cuba-6
Octavio Buigas, José Martí Sporting Arena, Havana, Cuba, 1960. John C. Blew, photographer.

Cuba-7
Ricardo Porro, Roberto Gottardi, and Vittorio Garatti, National Art Schools (on site of former Havana Country Club), Havana, Cuba, 1961-65. John C. Blew, photographer.

Cuba-8
Antonio Quintana, House of the Cosmonauts, Varadero, Cuba, 1975. Originally a place for rest for cosmonauts, now a hotel. Erica Morawski, photographer, 2012.