Leon, Nicaragua, Hotel El Convento.
http://www.elconvento.com/
This first Carmelite Convent in the Americas housed nuns for 252 years. On December 9, 1903, the Archbishop of San Juan decided further repairs were too costly and the 9 remaining nuns and 2 novices moved a few days before Christmas.
Vacant for a decade, the church purchased the abandoned building from the Carmelite nuns in 1913 for $151. They rented it first as a retail store, then a dance hall. Then, for the next 40 years, it was a flophouse without running eater, sanitary facilities or electricity, just as in the 1600's. In 1953, the ruin became a parking lot for garbage trucks.
In 1959, under Operation Bootstrap, Robert Frederick Woolworth, heir to the Woolworth fortune, purchased the convent property from the Archdiocese of San Juan for $250,000 and transformed it into a deluxe hotel named El Convento. It would spur the development of business, tourism and employment in Old San Juan.
It took three years to convert the decayed structure to a hotel. Two floors were added to the original convent's three stories, creating 100 rooms, including 10 suites.
The interior designer accompanied by a photographer and Woolworth, journeyed everywhere in Spain to find furniture for the hotel. When he couldn't get authentic pieces from Spain's Golden Age he commissioned reproductions of enormous chandeliers, wrought-iron fixtures, and decorative tiles. All wood objects, furniture, louvered doors and overhead beams were handcrafted of walnut or mahogany. Lampshades were goatskins. Bedspreads and rugs were woven in Granada by gypsies.
No expense was spared, and it showed. The halls and galleries were filled with antiques: tapestries, paintings, shields and swords, carved chests. High-back chairs and settees were upholstered in satins and velvets. Guest rooms had canopied beds with elaborate headboards, beamed ceilings and window shutters.
By the end of 1970, the Woolworth family decided the hotel business was unprofitable and terminated the casino license. In 1971, they officially presented the hotel as a gift to the government in lieu of back taxes. The hotel was then government operated but it decided that professional management was preferable. No casino was in operation during this time.
It was operated by others for a couple of decades, and was recently redone and reopened in 1997 in its present state.
It is worth a visit for the food alone. The restaurant serves fabulous food, and the service is great.
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