Hotel Nacional de Cuba

The Hotel Nacional de Cuba stands on Taganana Hill overlooking the Malecon seafront in the Vedado district of Havana, opened on 30 December 1930 to a design by the American architectural firm McKim, Mead and White. Its twin-towered facade blends Spanish, Moorish, Roman and Art Deco elements into a style often described as Spanish eclectic, intended to evoke the grand resort hotels of the era. The hotel is best known for hosting the Havana Conference of December 1946, a meeting of American organized crime figures including Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky convened to settle disputes within their criminal network, an event later dramatized in film. Nationalized after the Cuban Revolution, the hotel continues to operate today and remains one of Havana's most recognizable landmarks.