Panama’s Municipality of Buildings and Constructions and the Directorate of Historic Heritage are looking into why Casco Viejo’s Hotel Central collapsed the other day.
Yesterday, officials revised the crumbling structure to make sure that proper measures will be adopted to avoid further disintegration of the 125 year-old facade. Although a penalty has yet to be been determined, article 42 of Law 58 of 2003 states that the destruction or demolition of monuments could occasion up to $50,000 in fines, La Prensa Reports.
The inside of the hotel has long been gutted which included the destruction of an imposing staircase brought from New York in 1883. However, items such as fine china and wooden furnishings from what was once one of the Americas’ most luxurious hotel can still be found throughout the homes of neighborhood residents, old and expat, who raided the hotel before it was eviscerated.
I feel so sorry about the collapse of Hotel Central in Panama.
I happened to know this hotel very well because I lived in
Calle Tercera for several years in the mid seventies as French expat.
We used to go there for breakfast and I can remember its cooling
ceiling fans, its patio and it was so charming to sit
there and meet all kinds of people who stopped their travelling
life in that very place.
It’s part of Panamanian soul which is now gone … how sad …
Laurence Noé-Pécheur