The historic Grand Hôtel Oloffson, as soon as a cultural and political hub in Haiti’s capital, has been lowered to ashes following a weekend of gang violence that compelled residents to flee and left the world inaccessible to authorities.
The Gothic gingerbread mansion, which served as a lodge, music venue, and unofficial salon for many years, burned late Saturday amid heavy gunfire between gangs and police within the Pacot neighborhood.
The lodge’s longtime supervisor, Richard Morse, confirmed the destruction after reviewing drone footage. “After they referred to as again, they mentioned one thing like, ‘sit.’ I knew then that this wasn’t like the opposite occasions,” Morse mentioned, noting rumors of earlier arson makes an attempt had circulated for months.
Journalists have been unable to entry the location because of safety considerations, however Haiti’s Institute for Safeguarding Nationwide Heritage additionally confirmed the fireplace.
Constructed as a presidential retreat within the early 1900s, the Oloffson later grew to become a U.S. Marine Corps hospital earlier than opening as a lodge within the Thirties. It was immortalized because the fictional Resort Trianon in Graham Greene’s The Comedians and hosted figures from Jacqueline Onassis to Mick Jagger.
“It birthed a lot tradition and expression,” mentioned Haitian-American singer Riva Précil, who lived on the lodge for a decade as a baby. “RAM actually created that tradition and that atmosphere, made it an area that welcomed folks from all varieties of denominations and sexual preferences.”
Morse managed the lodge for practically 30 years, internet hosting legendary Thursday evening performances along with his band, RAM, and annual Vodou celebrations that drew crowds from throughout the nation and overseas.
His daughter, Isabelle Morse, mentioned the household had hoped to return and reopen the lodge. “It’s not solely a enterprise, it’s our dwelling,” she mentioned. “It was extra about transferring again dwelling relatively than reopening the enterprise.”
Although the lodge had been closed since 2022 because of escalating violence, its destruction is a symbolic loss for a nation already grappling with the erosion of its cultural landmarks.
“A whole lot of Haiti’s architectural heritage goes up in flames proper now,” mentioned writer and journalist Michael Deibert. “The destruction of the Oloffson is symbolic of the destruction of Haiti’s historical past and tradition that we’ve been watching over the past a number of years.”
