Source: Photograph (2010) by WTL© on site in La Habana Vieja (Old Havana).
Comment: The Hotel Palacio O'Farril is now a good and safe three and a half star hotel located in the heart of Old Havana. Originally it was the mansion of a nineteenth-century sugar magnate, who made his fortune working his African slaves on his sugar plantations. When the Cuban Revolution expropriated all property in 1959, the hotel was used for a variety of purposes, but it was allowed to decay to the point where it was virtually uninhabitable. Then, after the collapse of Soviet support for Cuba disappeared and Cuba was forced to turn to international tourism for income, UNESCO declared Old Havana a world heritage site, and money began to flow into Old Havana and beach resorts (for tourists, not for Cubans), this hotel was remodelled and its services were upgraded. For a crummy view of the mansion-hotel's inner courtyard/patio, see: => Havana #8a. (The professor-photographer enjoyed his stay in this hotel and most likely will return.)
Humanities question: How do you feel about patronizing a hotel whose elegance was made possible thanks to the work of slave labor on sugar plantations?