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 Now, with U.S.-Cuban diplomatic ties restored and overall
relations warming, the U.S. ambassadorial residence is re-emerging
as a center of influence on the Communist-ruled island.
Built from 1939 to 1942, the two-story building is more than half
the size of the White House, according to U.S. State Department
data, and was constructed with the finest materials and
craftsmanship of the time.
The United States abandoned it from 1961 to 1977 after the 1959
Cuban revolution overthrew a pro-American government and Washington
severed ties with Fidel Castro, leaving the home to at first
Albanian and later Swiss caretakers.
The coral limestone exterior and marble floors and columns are both
imposing and inviting, said one man who lived there and likened it
to the finest U.S. ambassadorial residences in London or Paris or
Buenos Aires.
 "This is a place that was built to impress," said John Caulfield,
who was America's chief diplomat in Cuba from 2011 to 2014 and
inhabited the upstairs two-bedroom, two-bath residential suite with
a living room.
The upper level also has four other large bedrooms with private
baths, among them the presidential suite.
Obama, Michelle Obama, their two daughters and the first lady's
mother will stay there Sunday and Monday nights during the first
visit by a U.S. president to Cuba in 88 years.
The public and working areas are on the ground floor.
The State Department bought the land and built the residence as
America was being drawn into World War Two and sought the profile of
a nation on the rise.
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"It's really an example of soft power. You walk through that door
and it impresses. It's expensive, but not as expensive as an
aircraft carrier," Caulfield said.
The neighborhood, now known as Cubanacan, was called Country Club
Park when it was built. The 5-acre (2-hectare) plot has a swimming
pool and tennis court.
"Not bad for public housing," Caulfield said.
The highest ranking official to previously stay there was Vice
President Richard Nixon in 1955.
According to lore, it was built as a winter White House for
President Franklin Roosevelt, who used a wheelchair.
While the State Department could not confirm that, the elevator,
ramps and wide doorways made it wheelchair-friendly 50 years before
the Americans With Disabilities Act required such features in
government buildings.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Tom Brown)
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