Cine Esmeralda

Joe Vogel on December 12, 2024 at 10:16 pm

This item from Moving Picture World Of November 6, 1926, might be about this house: “Forms Havana Co.

“Nat Liebeskind, formerly manager of the Universal exchange in Cuba, has formed the Havana Theatre Company, Inc., to operate picture theatres in Havana. On or about November 1 the first theatre will be opened. This will be known as the Cine Esmeralde.”

If Mr. Liebeskind’s house was indeed this one, then he was taking over an existing theater. This page from the “Lost Architecture” subreddit has an earlier photo of the house, dating its construction to 1908 and attributing its original, fanciful Art Nouveau design to architect Alberto de Castro. I wonder if Mr. Liebeskind was responsible for the old fashioned yet wretchedly inferior remodeling of the façade? The current front does look like a 1920s design, and few in the 1920s had respect for the Art Nouveau style.