PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) 鈥� Haiti鈥檚 once-illustrious Grand H么tel Oloffson, a beloved Gothic gingerbread home that inspired books, hosted parties until dawn and attracted visitors from Mick Jagger to Haitian presidents, was .
Hundreds of Haitians and foreigners mourned the news as it spread across social media, with the hotel manager on Monday confirming the fire on X. Even though gang violence had forced the hotel in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, to close in recent years, many had hoped it would reopen.
鈥淚t birthed so much culture and expression,鈥� said Riva Pr茅cil, a Haitian-American singer who lived in the hotel from age 5 to 15. In a tearful phone interview, Pr茅cil recalled how she learned to swim, dance and sing at the Oloffson.
Longtime hotel manager Richard Morse, who had been overseeing the property remotely from the United States since the hotel's closure in 2022, told The Associated Press on Monday that for several months, there were persistent rumors that the hotel had burned.
鈥淪o when I heard Sunday morning that it burned, I did what I usually do, which is call someone who has drones and have them go take a look,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his time, when they called back, they said something like, 鈥榯ake a seat.鈥� I knew then that this wasn鈥檛 like the other times.鈥�
The where the hotel was located began late Saturday, according to James Jean-Louis, who lives in the hills above the Oloffson. He told The Associated Press over the phone on Sunday that he observed the flames as he and other residents were chased out while police and gangs exchanged heavy gunfire.
Journalists are currently unable to visit the site and verify the damage at the hotel because gangs control the area, which remains inaccessible. Patrick Durandis, director of the Institute for Safeguarding National Heritage, also confirmed the fire in a message to the AP.
Among those lamenting the fire was Michael Deibert, author of 鈥淣otes From the Last Testament: The Struggle for Haiti,鈥� and 鈥淗aiti Will Not Perish: A Recent History.鈥�
He landed in Miami on Sunday only to open his phone and see a flurry of messages from friends in Haiti.
鈥淲hen you went to the Oloffson, you really felt you were being connected with Haiti鈥檚 political and cultural history,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou went to Haiti and were never the same. And the Oloffson really captured that.鈥�
鈥業t鈥檚 our home'
The hotel attracted artists, intellectuals and politicians from Haiti and beyond, including Jacqueline Onassis and Tennessee Williams. It also survived coups, dictatorships and .
Isabelle Morse, daughter of Richard Morse, said he loved having writers, photographers and other artists at the Oloffson.
鈥淗is sense of community was very important to him,鈥� she said in a phone interview Monday, describing the hotel as 鈥渉is whole life.鈥�
鈥淔or him, it represented freedom, where people from all walks of life could come in and share that space," she said.
Richard Morse said he was reluctant to talk about what happened to the hotel given that in Haiti 鈥渟o many people are dying and being raped and losing everything that I don鈥檛 want the focus to be on the hotel.鈥�
Morse spent nearly 30 years at the Oloffson. It's where he met his wife, had his children and started his band, RAM.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no life without hope, so we have to consider bringing Haiti back and bringing the hotel back and bringing the art and the culture back,鈥� he said.
Isabelle Morse said her parents had hoped to reopen the Oloffson.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not only a business, it鈥檚 our home. We were raised there,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t was more about moving back home rather than reopening the business.鈥�
Haiti's heritage up in flames
The Oloffson served as a presidential summer palace in the early 1900s and then became a U.S. Marine Corps Hospital before a Swedish sea captain converted it into a hotel in the 1930s.
It also served as inspiration for the fictional Hotel Trianon in Graham Greene鈥檚 1966 novel 鈥淭he Comedians,鈥� set in Haiti under the brutal dictatorship of Francois Duvalier, best known as 鈥淧apa Doc.鈥�
In real life, , and the hotel became a respite for aid workers and foreign correspondents.
In the late 1980s, Richard Morse became the hotel鈥檚 manager. His band, RAM, played Haitian roots music on Thursday nights that became legendary, as were the Day of the Dead celebrations known as F猫t Gede that drew in .
鈥淚t was a vessel for so many people to gather and freely express themselves,鈥� Pr茅cil recalled. 鈥淩AM really created that culture and that environment, made it a space that welcomed people from all types of denominations and sexual preferences.鈥�
The Oloffson was nestled in the upscale community of Pacot in the southeast corner of the country's capital. It was surrounded by lush gardens and often described as a mythical place, renowned for its intricate latticework, turrets and spires and creaking parquet floors that characterize .
A 1940s advertisement by Haiti鈥檚 tourism department said that the hotel was situated 鈥渋n the coolest section of the town鈥� and noted that English, French, German and Spanish were spoken there.
The hotel closed in recent years as control of once peaceful communities.
鈥淎 lot of Haiti鈥檚 architectural heritage is going up in flames right now with so-called leaders stand by with their hands in their pockets,鈥� Deibert said. 鈥漈he destruction of the Oloffson is symbolic of the destruction of Haiti鈥檚 history and culture that we鈥檝e been watching over the last several years.鈥�
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Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
D谩nica Coto And Evens Sanon, The Associated Press
