page_title: Palacio de Aldama
section_title: Property confiscated
hierarchical_section_title: Palacio de Aldama / History / Property confiscated
caption_attribution_description: English: Palacio Aldama. Havana. Cuba.
context_page_description: The Palacio de Aldama is a neoclassical mansion located diagonally opposite to the old Plaza del Vapor, and in front of the old Campo de Marte; present day Parque de la Fraternidad, in Havana, Cuba. Built in 1840 by the Dominican architect and engineer Manuel José Carrera, its main facade of columns spans one block on Calle Amistad between Calles Reina and Estrella.
context_section_description: The Aldama mansion was in the care at that time of two or three servants who were the victims of the humiliation and mistreatment; the family was saved from the fury of the aggressors for not being in the house, an old English maid was stripped of her life's savings by volunteers. That January 24 was Sunday and, like all holidays, the Aldama family spent it at their Santa Rosa farm, in Matanzas. There, they received the news and also the threat that the farm would suffer the same fate. They did not delay in leaving the Island; all their properties were confiscated. In New York, Miguel Aldama assumed the direction of the General Agency of the Republic of Cuba in Arms and put at the service of his ideas what was left of his immense fortune. He died in 1888 in exile and in misery.
  As a result of these events, it the Palace was confiscated by the colonial government until 1878 when, by the transitory pacification of the Island, by the Pact of Zanjón, it was returned to its owners. It has been affirmed that this palace was destined to be the seat of the government of the republic, mentioned in this regard in a phrase of the martyr Domingo Goicuría.
  The looting caused much damage to the property, they only found weapons from the defendant's personal collection. As a result of this assault, Don Aldama left the country. After his death on April 11, 1870, a trial was commenced in Havana to determine if his heirs Miguel and Leonardo Aldama could inherit the property, it was an option denied by the colonial court, and as a result, the Aldana Palace passed on to the metropolitan government. With the signing of the Pact of the Zanjón, the Aldama family had their rights reinstated but never again was the palace occupied by its owners or any family member.
  After the death of Don Miguel Aldama, the mansion was auctioned and the new owners installed the tobacco factory "La Corona," which was subsequently sold to the English company "The Havana Cigar and Tobacco Factories Limited," which modified the Palace by adding a third floor. In 1932 after a bloody tobacco strike the company closed the building and in 1945 it was planned to be demolished; by protest of cultural and artistic societies, it was saved and declared a National Monument on June 9, 1949, by decree. Prior to the Cuban Revolution, there was the Mendoza Mortgage Bank, and other private companies.
caption: Palacio de Aldama ca. 1890 showing fence of Campo de Marte
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