Havana architectural history:
Founded in 1519 by the Spanish, Havana was declared as a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1982. The city hosts architectural styles accumulated over nearly five centuries; Colonial, Baroque and Neoclassical to Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Eclectic to Modernism. Though rich in history and aesthetically relevant, the Cuban capital’s treasures have been affected by decay since the latter part of the nineteenth century. Having assumed its mission in 1981, the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana has been working diligently on the re-construction of the city’s historic center.
Plan Maestro Office was created in 1994 with the mandate to create a master plan for the renovation and preservation of historic Havana and for the visual documentation of the city as the planning authority of the Oficina del Historiador. Listed in 1982 as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, the Old City of Havana is a 4.4 sq km (l.7 sq mi) area of high density 16th to 19th century buildings with many narrow 5.8 m (19 ft.) wide streets. Average building heights are 4.6 to 5.5 m (15 to 18 ft.) per floor. An average colonial three-story building is 13.7 to 16.5 m (45 – 54 ft.) high.
In 2012, Hampshire College through Professor Jacqueline Hayden initiated the Havana Archive Project with Plan Maestro; a digital archive of the Cuban Institute of Geodesy and Cartography 1980’s photographs of the 1055 significant buildings in the Historic Center of Havana as determined by Dr. Eusebio Leal, Director of the Office of the Historian. Professor Hayden and Hampshire College alum Guillermo Ortiz-Palacios with Alina Gonzalez, Specialist in Territorial Information System at Plan Maestro, organized and directed the scanning, following the Library of Congress guidelines for file formats. The photographers from the Cuban Institute of Geodesy and Cartography made 4,722 negatives, approximately 80% of which are 5” x 7” glass plate negatives while the remaining 20% are 5” x 7” film negatives and 4722 positive contact prints that have original measurements and notations drawn directly on them and form an integral part of the visual record of the working restoration of the old city of Havana. Many of the negatives were deteriorating from lack of humidity-controlled storage and chemical deterioration. Some of the buildings photographed in the 1980s survey no longer exist. For example, two were demolished to build the new Russian Orthodox Church on that site.
Scanning Methods/ Quality Control
- The 5” x 7” negatives were scanned at 1200 dpi rendering 280 MB uncompressed TIFF files in a 48 bit RGB color space. The scans exceed the Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines by 2000 pixels across the long side of the image, i.e. dimensions are 5909 x 8062 pixels. We committed to the higher resolution scans because our testing revealed at 100% magnification the 1200 dpi files rendered significantly greater minute details in the buildings’ facades that we believe will be of interest to future researchers.
- The photographic positives with photogrammetry marks visible on buildings with measurements by engineers and architectural notations drawn directly on the contact prints were scanned in accordance with the Technical Guidelines for Digitizing Cultural Heritage Materials @ 570 ppi for 5” x 7” photo 48 bit RGB, uncompressed TIFF file (4000 pixels across long dimension of image area).
Funding Sponsorship:
Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts; Center for Research Libraries Latin American Materials Project and Hampshire College, Amherst, MA (U.S.A.)