Even without the glitter and fame of others, Chacón Street has a long history and an image that distinguishes it from the rest of Old Havana.
Its origin dates back to the colonial period, when -like other parallel arteries- it was laid out almost in a straight line from east to west through the then city center, in the vicinity of Havana’s bay. Today, it runs from the Avenida del Puerto to the wide Monserrate Street.
This artery of the Cuban capital owes its name to Don Laureano Chacón y Torres, who achieved notoriety in the defense of Havana during the siege of the English troops in 1762. It is said that he lived near the street that today bears his name, on Cuba Street at the corner of Tejadillo.
Laureano Chacón enlisted at a very young age in the colonial militias and played an important role in the reorganization of these troops to confront the invaders. In addition, he held the position of Alderman of Havana, all of which earned him to be immortalized shortly after, when under the government of Count La Ricla, the streets of Havana were officially named.
According to old chronicles, Don Tomás Romay, a physician and scientist considered the first Cuban hygienist, lived on Chacón Street. The Artillery barracks were also located there, in a house that would later be owned by the patriot Rafael de Cárdenas. In addition, in the 18th century, the so-called King’s Bakery, which made bread and cookies for the Spanish troops, was located there.
The road no longer looks, logically, as it did in its original times. Its first colonial constructions were disappearing and others, built in the XIX and XX centuries, took their place. Some of the best-known sites of the street and its surroundings are the Archbishopric of Havana, La Maestranza Park and the police station of Cuba and Chacón.
In recent years, this Havana street has also been hit by the crisis, by the growing deterioration that is spreading throughout the country. Thus, not a few of its buildings and houses exhibit the traces of that decline, while, at the same time, hostels and private restaurants, such as Ivan Chef Justo’s, where the kings of Spain had lunch in 2019, keep a better face.
To Chacón Street, with its places and contrasts, with its people and their daily survival in the middle of 2025, we propose to approach today through the lens of our photoreporter Otmaro Rodríguez.
Edificio en la calle Chacón, en La Habana Vieja. Foto: Otmaro Rodríguez
