
The compact yet extravagant Beaux Arts building on the northwest corner of Prado and Trocadero was once the residence of Cuba’s second president, José Miguel Gómez, known as ‘El Tiburón’ (The Shark). The lovely 1915 mansion features a wide marble staircase and a striking hip-roof lookout on the rooftop. Everything, down to the private chapel, is as it was in Gómez’s time. It is now a budget hotel.