Hotel Beltran de Santa Cruz, Havana Hotels, Cuba

Hotel in the Historical Center operated by the Office of the City Historian.

In 1732, Don Gabriel Beltrán de Santa Cruz contracted the building of a house in the Old Square, to be home to the Counts of Jaruco, but passed away during the early stages of the work. His widow, Doña Antonia Aranda y Avellaneda, daughter of the Governor of the San Salvador de la Punta Fortress, expanded the project requesting that a smaller scale likeness of the main house be built in the courtyard, known henceforth as the "The Little House ". It was finished in 1739.

With the course of time it was inhabited by families and prominent figures of Havana’s society such as: Pedro Beltrán de Santa Cruz, Count of San Juan de Jaruco; Josefa Catalina de Santa Cruz, sister of the Marquise of Cárdenas de Monte Hermoso; the Family of the Marquis de Casa Peñalver, among others.

The most distinguished personalities that visited the city were lavished and hosted here, amongst them: The Baron Alexander von Humboldt, the eminent German scientist, and three French princes: the Count of Beaujolais, and the Dukes of Montpensier and Orleans; the latter was afterwards crowned as King Louis Philippe of France. The Little House, of San Ignacio 411, Hotel Beltrán de Santa Cruz, comes down to us without major transformations, maintaining its original structure and colonial air.

This elegant house placed very close to the Old Square, open its doors in the manner of a welcoming inn; the suggestive combination of its antique and modern elements is the leitmotif that exalts the originality of its attractive design.