Félix Benítez Rexach

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Benítez and the second or maternal family name is Rexach.

Félix Benítez Rexach
Félix Bénitez Rexach with his wife
Born	March 27, 1886 Vieques, Puerto Rico
Died	November 2, 1975 San Juan, Puerto Rico
Nationality	Puerto Rican
Occupation(s)	Engineer and businessman
Known for	Building the Normandie Hotel
Movement	Puerto Rican Independence
Spouse	Lucienne Dhotelle

View of the Normandie Hotel from Muñoz Rivera Avenue

Félix Benítez Rexach (March 27, 1886 – November 2, 1975) was a Puerto Rican engineer and businessman who built the Normandie Hotel, located in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Life and career

Benitez Rexach was born in Vieques. In 1928, he fell in love with and married Lucienne Dhotelle, a French singer better known as La Môme Moineau (the kid sparrow).^[1][2]

Normandie Hotel

Benítez Rexach decided to surprise his wife with the construction of a yacht as a replica of the majestic ship. Moineau wasn't satisfied and Benítez Rexach decided then to construct a hotel with the form of a great transatlantic vessel. Designed by architect Raúl Reichard (1908–1996), the hotel began construction in 1938. He named the "Normandie Hotel" in honor of the French liner and presented it as a gift to his beloved wife and to the people of Puerto Rico. The hotel opened on October 10, 1942^[3] at an estimated cost of more than US$2,000,000.

Bridges

Rexach designed and/or built a number of Puerto Rico's historic bridges, including the "futuristic" Bridge No. 122 and Las Cabañas Bridge (both of those being joint works with designer Rafael Nones).^[4]

Other works

Benítez Rexach also worked on various projects in the Dominican Republic, as a consequence of the friendship which he had with that country's dictator, Rafael L. Trujillo. Among his works in that country were the Port of Santo Domingo and the "Avenida Jorge Washington" (George Washington Avenue).^[5]

Political beliefs

Benítez Rexach was a passionate Puerto Rican patriot and a personal friend of Pedro Albizu Campos, president of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. He was a firm believer in the Puerto Rican independence movement and once visited Luis A. Ferré, the pro-statehood Governor of Puerto Rico, at the governor's mansion and asked him to proclaim the independence of Puerto Rico, since in his words: "Puerto Rico was a superior nation and the most developed in the Caribbean."^[5]

See also

• List of Puerto Ricans
• List of Puerto Rican architects
• USS Natchez (PF-2)

References

1. Moreno Villareal, María C. (2021-04-05). "Una historia de amor atraca en el Normandie". El Nuevo Día (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-05-09.
2. "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PLAINTIFF, APPELLANT, vs. LUCIENNE D'HOTELLE DE BENITEZ REXACH, ET AL., DEFENDANTS, APPELLEES - No. 76-1117 - United States Court Of Appeals For The First Circuit". June 20, 1977.
3. "Puerta de Tierra: Hotel Normandie". Archived from the original on June 30, 2008. Retrieved 2007-06-10.
4. Luis F. Pumarada O'Neill (July 31, 1994). "Historic Bridges of Puerto Rico, c. 1840 - 1950". National Park Service. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
5. Felix Benítez Rexach

• "LA MÔME MOINEAU" by Michel Ferracci-Porri 380 pages, published in November 2006 by Editions Normant Archived 2009-03-11 at the Wayback Machine (ISBN 978-2-915685-28-2) is the first biography of Félix and Moineau Benitez.

External links

• Official Normandie Hotel website