DOMESTIC MONUMENTS: HISTORIC PRESERVATION IN HAVANA
With many of Havana's numerous Spanish Colonial, and Art Deco buildings in a serious state of disrepair, the need for historic preservation efforts have become a top priorty for both Cuba's architectual community, and the international preservation community. The necessity of these restoration projects has come at a time when Cuba has fewer resources to work with.
At a conference on Cuban Architecture held in New York, on May 1, 1998, they concluded "Due to the embargo by the United States, the loss of Soviet subsides, and the lack of contact with the United States, the urban renewal so common in American cites never reached Cuban cities and towns."(The Caribbean Architecture Restoration Project, 2001) If something was not done to stop the continuation of this needless destruction, there would soon be nothing left to save.
Havana lies next to the Caribbean Sea.
Due to this close proximity to the sea, the hot salty air has accelerated the decay of much of Havana'a architectual hertiage. With little attention paid during the last 40 years of Fidel Castro's government, the international community has been increasingly alerted to the seriousness of the situation.
In 1982, Habana Vieja joined a select group of world cities declared World
Hertiage Sites of Humanity by UNESCO. Characterized as a historic center that
formed part of a larger metropolitian area, the UN appellation set the spatial
limits of the historic district." (Havana: Two Faces of the Antillean
Metropolis, 1997) As the world began to slowly take notice of the enmormity
of the problem, they also began to see how rich and diverse the city's buildings
were. They saw how the region's domestic architecture specifically related
to the Latin American culture that surrounded them.
"Houses after all are more true to life than any monument or public building can ever be. Throughout time in the West Indies, homes have provided ample room for experimentation with, and transformation of imported spatial ideas." (Havana, 1997) Because of the difficulty in traveling to Cuba for Americans for much of the last 40 years, the situation went unnoticed for much of the time. With many restirctions lifting, more people began to become aware that Cuban's in the arcitectural community were interested in the subject and were able to take on much of the work involved with historic restoration.
Conversely, Havana's institutional architecture reached beyond it's borders to Europe, and the United State for influences. The results were quite different than their domestic architecture. The government and commerical buildings built in Havana could very well be in Miami or Los Angeles. They reference the international styles of the period in which they were built, in particular, moderism from the last century.
As Nancy Stout again states, "It is difficult to ascertain each island's architectural identity in these buildings, conceived as they were to serve colonial expectations, not challenge them." (Havana, 1997) Much of this mid-century moderism is being looked at much more carefully today, than it would have been 25 years ago. And the examples that Havana has to offer are quite amazing.
As Havana takes stock of its architectural hertiage, they are seeing tremendous progress being made by their investment in historic preseveration. Whether the buildings are utlized in their former states or evolve into something quite different, their culutral heritage will remain apart of the evolution. As more of the international community becomes invovled with Cuba's preservation efforts, the world will be able to experience the uniqueness to this Latin American city.
Works Citied
The Caribbean Architecture Restoration Project. New York: Cuban Architectual Conference, May 1, 1998. Available: aol.com/caribarch/cubaconf.html May 13, 2001.
Segre, roberto, Mario Coyula, and Josehp l. Scarpaci. Havana: two Faces of the Antillean Metropolis (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1997) 285-287.
Stout, Nancy and Jorge Rogau. Havana (NewYork: Rizzoli, 1997) 49 &54.