PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haiti’s once illustrious Grand Hôtel Oloffson, a beloved Gothic gingerbread home that inspired books, hosted parties until dawn and attracted visitors from Mick Jagger to Haitian presidents, was burned down by gangs this past weekend.
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 in a brief comment. 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.
“It birthed so much culture and expression,” said Riva Précil, a Haitian-American singer who grew up in the hotel from age 5 to 15.
In a tearful phone interview, Précil recalled how she learned to swim, dance and sing at the Oloffson.
The attack on the community where the hotel was located began late Saturday, according to James Jean-Louis, who lives above the Oloffson. He told The Associated Press in a phone interview Sunday that he observed the flames as he and other residents were chased out while police and gangs exchanged heavy gunfire.
Among those lamenting the fire was Michael Deibert, author of “Notes From the Last Testament: The Struggle for Haiti,” and “Haiti Will Not Perish: A Recent History.”
He landed in Miami on Sunday only to open his phone and see a flurry of messages from friends in Haiti.
“When you went to the Oloffson, you really felt you were being connected with Haiti’s political and cultural history,” he said. “You went to Haiti and were never the same. And the Oloffson really captured that.”
The hotel attracted artists, intellectuals and politicians from Haiti and beyond, including Jacqueline Onassis and Tennessee Williams. It also survived coups, dictatorships and the devastating 2010 earthquake.
Isabelle Morse, daughter of Richard Morse, who became the hotel’s manager several decades ago, said he loved having writers, photographers and other artists at the Oloffson.
“His se