16 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION IN CUBA 



By Hamilton M. Wright. 



Public improvements in Cuba are today more closely patterned after those of the United 

 States of America than those of any other Latin-American country. Indeed, Havana is more 

 modern than any Latin-x\merican city north of Eio de Janeiro or Buenos Aires. Cuba has a very 

 active public works department, the head of which is the Hon. Jose R. Villalon, Minister of 

 Public Works and a member of President Menocal's cabinet. The concrete construction in 

 Havana is marvelous, but as a matter of fact the concrete work throughout the republic has 

 only started and a tremendous task faces the Cuban Government before its ambitious projects 

 are finally accomplished. 



There are already 160 steel and concrete business buildings in Havana. These run up as 

 high as seven stories, and include bank buildings, business blocks cf office buildings, and ware- 

 houses. One of the new steel and concrete buildings in Havana, with the ground on which it 

 stands, represents an investment of $4,000,000. There are more than 195 miles of new streets 

 in Havana. Fine concrete curbs and sidewalks have been built. The streets are paved with 

 granite blocks or are surfaced with concrete. Havana has a boulevard system that is one of the 

 world's great show places, and concrete is the basis of its construction. The superb Prado, or 

 double boulevard, enclosing a strip of park in its center, radiates from the heart of the city, at 

 Central Park, to the jVIalecon, or sea drive, that skirts the blue Caribbean . The Malecon drive 

 turns the curve at the entrance of Havana harbor, opposite the famed Morro Castle and follows 

 the ocean there for several miles. A great concrete escarpement lines the side of the Malecon 

 next to the sea. The side next to the city is Uned with beautiful homes that face seaward. It 

 is planned to extend the Malecon drive nine and one-half miles to the public beach known 

 as the Play a, which is now reached by street cars. 



Between Havana and the Playa is an attractive rural estate sub-division, with concrete 

 curbs and sidewalks and finished streets platted for homes. An idea of the size of this 

 sub-division, which ccrresponds to the attractive sub-divisions put on the market 

 near the great American cities, may be gained from the fact that it is two and 

 one-half miles long. Havana has an abundance of lime for the manufacture of cement, but 



A Suburban Mansion in Havana made of Concrete. 



— Courtesy of Exporters and ImportersZJournal. 



