Xanadu Mansion Restoration Recognized.

Among the challenges of the repairs faced by the mansion is the respect for the original architectural design of the building, today a cozy hotel with eight rooms, terraces, balconies, two bars and a French restaurant.

The Xanadu mansion, one of the six wonders of Matanzas architecture, deserved the 2025 Provincial Monument Restoration Award, a fair recognition to one of the best exponents of the neocolonial stylistic variant, according to Dailys Collado, director of the Office of Monuments and Historic Sites (OMSH).

One of the distinctive moments of the restoration of this building, which lasted several years, is associated with the work on its decks of Cuban precious woods and Italian marble, worked with care, to keep them as emblematic of Cuban architecture of the early twentieth century.

Among the challenges of the repairs faced by the mansion is the respect for the original architectural design of the building, today a cozy hotel with eight rooms, terraces, balconies, two bars and a French restaurant, with the value of having most of the original real estate.

Xanadu has its original furniture and decoration includes sea horses, nautical roses, sailboats or rudders, which adorn lamps, furniture and the floor of the back terrace, illuminated with tesserae.

The Palmares Company owns the building, which was declared a National Monument in 2013 and whose inauguration dates back to December 31st, 1930, on the rocks of San Bernardino, in Varadero, Cuba’s main beach resort.

Designed by architects Felix Cabarrocas and Evelio Govantes, after the triumph of the Revolution on January 1st, 1959, the Dupont House was used as a school for young people practicing water sports. In 1963 it housed a restaurant, a location where, it is said, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova stayed.

As time went by, Xanadu became the clubhouse of the golf course, which comprises some 6,269 linear meters, from the first to the last hole, and a total surface area of 61 hectares.

The Varadero Golf Club celebrated its first quarter of a century, since it was officially opened on October 26th, 1999, as a tourist attraction of international fame and venue for important competitions.

Written by Eva Luna Acosta.