Normandie Hotel
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The Normandie Hotel is a hotel located in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The hotel originally opened in 1942. Its design was inspired by the ocean liner SS Normandie. It features the same art deco design as the ship that inspired it.
The Normandie Hotel was the brainchild of Puerto Rican engineer Félix Benítez. The engineer met his future wife while on a trip abord the SS Normandie. As a tribute to his French wife, Moineau, Benítez decided to design a structure that imitated the lavish settings of the ocean liner. Construction began in 1938. The hotel's exterior was designed to resemble a luxury liner, elongated and curved in front, with portal-shape windows and lights. Inside, the hotel features art deco design, complete with Roman, Egyptian, and French details, high ceilings, and corridors looking down into a central skylighted atrium. The Normandie was a sensation among the social elite when it opened. After being closed and abandoned in the 1960's, the hotel was restored in the early 1990's. The Normandie was heavily damaged by Hurricane Georges in 1998 and it remained closed for a number of years.
In early 2005, the 173-room hotel reopened after an extensive refurbishing. Operating as an exclusive boutique hotel, the Normandie is a popular destination for locals and tourists.
The Normandie Hotel has been declared a national monument and included in the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Interior Department's Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service.
[edit] External links
- Official Website of the Normandie Hotel
- "La Môme Moineau" by Michel Ferracci-Porri.The first biography of Moineau and Félix Benitez. Editions Normant
