AND a carpark it would doubtless be to this day had it not been for the unbridled enthusiasm of an unlikely benefactor, heir to the Woolworth retailing fortune, Robert Frederic Woolworth who was horrified when he learned of the potential fate of the historic old Convent from head of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, Ricardo Alegria.
Woolworth had personal business interests in San Juan, and when Alegria introduced him to Operation Bootstrap that sought to save the old Convent as part of a plan to develop local tourism – and along the way boost other business opportunities and thus employment – Woolworth dug into his pocket and personally bought the Convent from the Catholic Archdiocese of San Juan for US$250,000.
And he then set about converting the crumbling 300 year old ruins into a boutique hotel like no other, and with a zeal that even the dynamic Alegria and his local business colleagues found hard to match – not just individually, but collectively.
Woolworth engaged firms of architects, structural engineers and interior designers to plan his “dream hotel” that he would call the El Convento – and after adding two floors to the Convent’s original three to create 100 hotel rooms, set about furnishing the place.
But what he had in mind was easier said than done. So he and his interior designer spent weeks in Spain seeking authentic items from its Golden Age… and when they couldn’t find originals, Woolworth commissioned reproductions of chandeliers, wrought-iron fixtures, louvered doors, tapestries, paintings, shields and swords, and had lampshades made from goatskins as they had been centuries before.
And when snookered in his quest for authentic bedspreads and rugs, the tireless Woolworth went to Granada and engaged bands of gypsies to hand-weave these items for him.
In January 1962 his grand Hotel El Convento opened, a throwback to an era when hotels were destinations in themselves, and with the El Convento offering extraordinarily lavish Old World Spanish accommodations in one-time nuns’ cells, fine dining in what was once the Convent’s chapel, and international-standard entertainment including Flamenco dances and big bands in other historic chambers and courtyards.
The rich and famous flocked there including Rita Hayworth, Robert Montgomery, George Hamilton, Lynda Bird Johnson, Ethel Merman, Johnny Desmond and Claudio Arrau… and Pablo Casals who would play his cello in the courtyard.
But running the hotel was neither easy nor profitable, and owing a huge amount in back-taxes to the Puerto Rican government, the Woolworth family in 1971 donated the hotel to the government in lieu of these taxes. Various groups dabbled with management of the hotel over the next eleven years, before it was closed again for a 10 months make-over in 1982.
And in 1986 new renovators were horrified to find wallboard had been nailed over historic arches, concrete render slathered over 300-year old handmade bricks, and red carpet glued over priceless handmade floor tiles. They painstakingly removed it all to get back to the original.
Management of the hotel changed several times more, and in the mid-1990s the Puerto Rico government gave up ownership and sold the ailing property to a group of local business executives who poured more buckets of money into it, and estimated that around US$275,000 had been spent on each guest room.
Conde Nast Traveler magazine now rates it one of the world’s best hotels, and as well as being one of the world’s most unique boutique hotels, it is also Puerto Rico’s official Guest House for visiting heads of state and other state-invited dignitaries.
With San Juan the busiest cruise terminal in the Caribbean, if you’re planning a Caribbean cruise add a few days at the El Convento – it’s an unforgettable experience in yesteryear serenity amid Old San Juan’s myriad narrow streets of designer-label boutiques, historic buildings and sunny outdoor cafés.