The Hotel Palacio O'Farrill is a terrifically grand neoclassical mansion standing on the corner of Cuba and Chacon Streets near the port of Havana. Its owner, Don Ricardo O'Farrill y O'Daly, made his fortune in the slave trade and owned several large sugar mills. The entrance hall of his house is almost ludicrously impressive, with a toweringly high ceiling and vast iron-studded polished mahogany doors.