Cuba's first post-independence president, Tomás Estrada Palma, was born here in 1835. One-time friend of José MartÃ, Estrada Palma was disgraced post-Revolution for his perceived complicity with the US over the Platt Amendment. His birth house is now the seat of Uneac (Unión Nacional de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba; National Union of Cuban Writers and Artists).
You'll find little about the famous former occupant inside, but the courtyard contains a palm (dating from 1837) that would (probably) have come into contact with Palma.