“At the end of the 19th century, Havana was practically a city frozen in time…” So begins the text of this volume, dedicated to recalling events and images of the Cuban capital in the first decades of the Republic — especially of the Vedado neighborhood, from its emergence to its inevitable decline as the upper classes’ preferred place of residence and leisure.
Many factors led to the change in the panorama described in those first lines, one of them being the rapid growth of the population, especially “that of the more fortunate sectors that demanded new spaces in which to legitimize themselves.” By 1918, Vedado was the most exclusive neighborhood in the capital. Dr. Llilian Llanes’s text is a singular history lesson: of a country, of a city, of its different hierarchies and classes. It covers architectural typologies, their evolution over the years, and the work of master builders and distinguished architectural firms. It explores in depth the residences of the most prominent figures of the Republic: the generals and doctors who, as in Carlos Loveira’s novel, monopolized the limelight.
The reader will find images recovered from archives and from publications of the time such as El Fígaro and Social, rarely reproduced since. These are not only photographs of buildings, their façades and interiors, but also portraits, caricatures and advertisements that immerse the reader in the atmosphere and dynamics of an era.
As a complement to this history, a contemporary vision: through the lens of Pedro Abascal we discover other angles of the same Havana a century later.
Is this city still frozen in time?
