The local streets were literally deserted as I walked the 35 minutes to the Hotel Nacional getting there at 8.45 am (8:45).

Hotel Nacional certainly looks more impressive from afar than from close up. Having said that, the grounds and public lobby were in keeping with the era when it was built and a green oasis in amongst Havana busyness. Then to top it off there were the peacocks wandering the grounds. As it was Sunday, the free tour wasn't on today ... sorry, can't come back tomorrow.

http://www.hotelnacionaldecuba.com/en/home.asp

The Hotel Nacional de Cuba is a historic luxury hotel located on the Malecón in the middle of Vedado, Havana, Cuba. It stands on Taganana hill a few metres from the sea, and offers a view of Havana Harbour, the seawall and the city.

The New York architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White designed the hotel, which features a mix of styles. It opened in 1930, when Cuba was a prime travel destination for Americans, long before the United States embargo against Cuba. In its 80+ years of existence, the hotel has had many important guests.

The hotel was built on the site of the Santa Clara Battery, which dates back to 1797. Part of the battery has been preserved in the hotel's gardens, including two large coastal guns dating from the late 19th Century. There is also a small museum there featuring the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. During the crisis, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara set up their headquarters there to prepare the defence of Havana from aerial attack.

Among its first illustrious guests were artists, actors, athletes and writers such as Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner, Mickey Mantle, Johnny Weissmuller, Buster Keaton, Jorge Negrete, Agustín Lara, Rocky Marciano, Tyrone Power, Rómulo Gallegos, Errol Flynn, John Wayne, Marlene Dietrich, Gary Cooper, Marlon Brando and Ernest Hemingway. The hotel's reputation is backed by patrons such as Winston Churchill, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, scientist Alexander Fleming, and innumerable Ibero-American Heads of State and European monarchs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Nacional_de_Cuba

Built in 1930 as a copy of the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, the eclectic art deco/neoclassical Hotel Nacional is a national monument and one of Havana's architectural emblems.

The hotel's notoriety was cemented in October 1933 when, following a sergeant's coup by Fulgencio Batista that toppled the regime of Gerardo Machado, 300 aggrieved army officers took refuge in the building hoping to curry favor with resident US ambassador, Sumner Wells, who was staying there. Much to the officers' chagrin, Wells promptly left, allowing Batista's troops to open fire on the hotel, killing 14 of them and injuring seven. More were executed later, after they had surrendered.

In December 1946 the hotel gained notoriety of a different kind when US mobsters Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano used it to host the largest ever get-together of the North American Mafia, who gathered here under the guise of a Frank Sinatra concert.

These days the hotel maintains a more reputable face and the once famous casino is long gone, though the kitschy Parisian cabaret is still a popular draw. Non-guests can admire the Moorish lobby, stroll the breezy grounds overlooking the Malecón or partake in a free guided hotel tour that runs at 10am and 3pm every day except Sunday.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/cuba/havana/sights/architecture/hotel-nacional#ixzz3x6ycjTNU