Haiti’s Landmark Oloffson Hotel is Destroyed in an Apparent Arson Fire

Americas|A Hotel Made Famous by Graham Greene Is a Victim of Haiti’s Violence

One of Haiti’s most renowned landmarks, the Oloffson Hotel, noted for its ornate wooden facade and celebrity guests, including the novelist Graham Greene, has become the latest victim of the country’s destructive spiral.

The hotel was “burned to the ground” in an apparent arson attack on Saturday night, Richard Morse, the hotel’s Haitian American owner and manager, said in a telephone interview on Monday from his home in Maine.

The destruction, he added, was confirmed by friends in Haiti and by drone footage showing the smoldering shell of the building, which had stood for more than a century, just a short walk from the center of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

While details about who was behind the fire remained unclear, the neighborhood has been convulsed by violence from gangs that now control most of Port-au-Prince.

The hotel’s wooden latticework, turrets and spires made it a classic example of the gingerbread Caribbean architectural style of homes that adorned some older residential parts of Haiti’s capital.

“I can’t describe the sadness and rage about the destruction of our patrimony,” Frederick Mangonès, a Haitian architect, said about the loss of the Oloffson. “There’s no respect for human life or history.”