In
the late 1920’s it saw its urban development boom when French multimillionaire
Irenée Dupont de Naumors took an interest in the place.
Dupont asked the 2 architectures who designed the Capitolio to build a Villa in front of San Bernardino, the highest point of Varadero. They succeed in 1929 with this 4 story building Villa Xanadu, by that time it costs $338.000.
Fine wooden mansions, built following the best architectural style of Louisiana, in southern Inited States, and solid quarry-stone houses, all having broad terraces for the enjoyment of the breeze and the sea view, started defining the face of a beach city which from the 1950’s on, and especially during the last two decades, acquired the unmistakable seal of a modern, varied, and comfortable beach resort, with numerous hotels and a sprawling out-door tourist infrastructure.
Al
Capone and Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista had houses here. In the 1950s,
the Internacional Hotel and casino was built while other hotels sprung
up along the coast. Movie stars, mobsters and high class hookers soon
followed.
n 1959 after the revolution Dupont fled and left the Villa. The Xanadu mansion was nationalized and today functions as the Varadero Golf Clubhouse and Varadero's most luxurious property with 6 guest rooms, a second floor ocean-facing lookout & bar, a restaurant featuring fine French dining, and a museum.
