Edificio del Seguro Médico, Havana, Modern architecture building in Vedado, Cuba.
The Edificio del Seguro Médico is a mixed-use building on Calle N in Vedado, designed by Antonio Quintana Simonetti and built from 1955 to 1958. It pairs a five-story office box holding lobbies, an auditorium and administrative offices with an eighteen-story residential slab set behind it, each volume with its own entrance on a different street. The outboard balconies alternate position and color on every floor.
The project began with a 1955 architectural competition for the new headquarters of the Cuban Colegio de Médicos and offices of the Medical Insurance Company. Antonio Quintana Simonetti won with a scheme of two volumes: a five-story office box and an eighteen-story residential slab. After the 1960 urban-reform law abolished private property, the state took over the building.
The building was designed for the Colegio de Médicos and the National Medical Insurance Company, and its 1955 competition entry was praised by Pedro Martínez Inclán, who said Quintana had given Havana "a building that speaks." Today it houses the Ministry of Public Health and the Prensa Latina news agency.
The complex sits at the intersection of 23rd Street and N Street in the neighborhood's central location. Visitors can easily view the facade and exterior during daylight hours, with the architecture fully visible from street level.
The wooden windows of the apartments have two sets of nine movable slats, each set controlled independently to modulate daylight; fully closed, they darken a room even on bright days. The outboard balconies alternate position on every floor and are each painted a different color.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,870 contributors worldwide.