tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9720404386563794572024-03-14T10:43:53.251+08:00Arquitectura ManilaYour gateway to Manila's glorious architectural pastPaulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972040438656379457.post-74009546897365536532015-06-24T08:00:00.000+08:002015-06-24T08:00:04.378+08:00Luneta Hotel<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C_ne-p5OVWg/VXheLoYYHhI/AAAAAAAABF8/pL9M5ge_jXU/s1600/Luneta-and-University-hotels-1930s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="393" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C_ne-p5OVWg/VXheLoYYHhI/AAAAAAAABF8/pL9M5ge_jXU/s640/Luneta-and-University-hotels-1930s.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Luneta Hotel (left), and the University Club and Apartments, later known as the Shellbourne Arms Hotel and Hotel Otani. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=96172&page=992">© Skyscrapercity.com</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Twentieth century Manila is without a doubt the golden age of the great and mighty city of the Far East. During the course of the first half of the century, the city grew not just in size, but also in population and the abundance of various architectural styles that sprung throughout. From the last century's Spanish colonial and Iberian architecture, to the then-current American neo-classical and federal styles, Manila has or had them all. Sadly, the ravages of war obliterated this once magnificent and celebrated city. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">As the '<i>Pearl of the Orient</i>', Manila had to deal with tourists from around the Far East, Europe, and the Americas. With the opening of Manila to ocean liners and the introduction of air travel through the trans-Pacific <i>Clipper </i>planes, hospitality services had to be built, one of these hotels was the Luneta Hotel.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JTU8oC7AXNg/VYGmhyQ1LcI/AAAAAAAABGQ/StH3HTn9Nyk/s1600/normal-portrait-luneta-hotel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JTU8oC7AXNg/VYGmhyQ1LcI/AAAAAAAABGQ/StH3HTn9Nyk/s320/normal-portrait-luneta-hotel.jpg" width="269" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Luneta Hotel in its early years. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://lunetahotel.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/normal-portrait-luneta-hotel.jpg">© Luneta Hotel</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Luneta Hotel, built in 1917 and completed in 1918, was designed by Spanish engineer Salvador Farre, in the French Renaissance style of architecture. Located in the residential section of Ermita at the corner of Calle San Luis (now T.M. Kalaw St.) and Calle Alhambra, the six-storey edifice facing the Rizal Park, is probably the only surviving example of the French renaissance style in the Philippines. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Ermita, the district on where the Luneta Hotel stands, was inhabited by old <i>bahay na bato</i> and <i>bodegas</i>, as Ermita has not been developed into what it was in the 1920s up to the 1940s. Ermita was where splendid mansions were built for people of importance in Manila, if not, the whole Philippine society. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The location of the Luneta Hotel ("x" mark), and its surrounding areas in the Ermita section of the city. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/johntewell/8493592883/sizes/l">© Flickr/John Tewell</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">As part of the American architect and city planner Daniel Burnham's vision for the Philippine capital, he suggested the building of hotels and apartments facing the new Rizal Park, which was t be lined up with trees and government buildings reminiscent of those in Washington D.C. and Paris. The Luneta Hotel boasts of having been built with ornate balconies and the French style mansard roof similar to those in post-Haussmann Paris. Because it was built in the French renaissance style with elements of art nouveau architecture, the Luneta Hotel features mythical elements such as the gargoyle-- which not only meant to serve as aesthetics, but also served to keep water away from the building. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Interior of one of the sixty rooms of the Luneta Hotel. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.lougopal.com/manila/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Luneta-Hotel-ante-chamber-part-of-suite-room-luneta-hotel1-242x300.jpg">© Lougopal.com/Manila Nostalgia</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">There were originally sixty (60) rooms in the Luneta Hotel, each with its own private bathrooms, and two (2) suites. All rooms have their own telephone service. Today, the sixty rooms of the Luneta Hotel have been decreased to twenty-seven (27) rooms. The hotel also had a restaurant and a coffee shop.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Gargoyles adorn the Luneta Hotel for both aesthetical and utilitarian purposes. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/andrecawagas/181297317/sizes/l">© Flickr/Andre Cawagas</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">During its early years, the Luneta Hotel was favored by merchant marine sailors and officers when they were staying in Manila because of its proximity to the Manila Harbor. In 1937, the Luneta Hotel gained international prominence when the city hosted the 33rd International Eucharistic Congress as it housed delegates for the Congress.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A damaged Luneta Hotel (left), and a burned-out University Club Apartments (right), after the liberation of Manila in 1945. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/johntewell/4281078978">© Flickr/John Tewell</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The liberation of 1945 took a toll on the Luneta Hotel. During the course of the war and occupation of the Philippines, the hotel housed non-commissioned officers of the United States Army, which assumingly, was a prison used by the Japanese Imperial Army. After the Second World War, the sparkle of the Luneta Hotel was not the same as it was before. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In 1952, the Luneta Hotel was bought by a man only written in records as Lednicky from Agustín and Rosalia Farre, in turn, sold it to Toribio Teodoro, owner of the famed <i>Ang Tibay</i> shoes. During the Martial Law years, the Luneta Hotel was confiscated from its owners and was given to the Kapampangan jeweller Panlilio family into its control. Another story was that the Luneta Hotel was not ill-gotten and that Panlilio family had bought the hotel from H.E. Heacock Resources, successor to the H.E. Heacock Company. The Panlilio family have been in the hospitality business due to their ownership of several five-star hotels, resorts , and transporation throughout the Philippines, namely: the now-closed Grand Boulevard Hotel (formerly the Silahis International Hotel), Philippine Village Hotel, and Grand Air International.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">In 1983, the Luneta Hotel was renovated and restored to bring back its former glory. After the famed People Power Revolution in 1986, the Luneta Hotel was sequestered from the Panlilio family by the Philippine government through the Presidential Commission on Good Government as it was believed that the former First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos owns the hotel, using the Panlilio family as a front. Since then, the Luneta Hotel closed its doors to the public and never to see its patrons again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">An abandoned Luneta Hotel in the hands of the Philippine government in the late 1980s. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/71144572@N00/1062969185/">© Flickr/Elmar</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">In 2007, the Luneta Hotel was purchased by Beaumont Holdings, and declared that the hotel would be restored within three (3) years. In 2014, after almost seven (7) years, the Luneta Hotel was again reopened with a grand spectacle coming from heritage conservationists and locals alike.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">During the re-opening of the Luneta Hotel in 2014. </span><a href="http://www.newsflash.org/2004/02/00001/000089733.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Manila Coconuts</span></a></span></div>
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Paulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972040438656379457.post-25989763171764355962015-04-28T10:32:00.001+08:002015-04-28T10:34:11.632+08:00Crystal Arcade<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LEpOIIixvhc/VRRAOTa4IGI/AAAAAAAABD4/q7GH0JgZ9l0/s1600/Crystal%2BArcade%2C%2BManila%2Bc.1930s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LEpOIIixvhc/VRRAOTa4IGI/AAAAAAAABD4/q7GH0JgZ9l0/s1600/Crystal%2BArcade%2C%2BManila%2Bc.1930s.jpg" height="427" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Crystal Arcade during its heyday. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/1897852_921278867923453_223303176019181426_n.jpg?oh=3f4ec48c3464cbbb6f99fd37a0479982&oe=55BD1509">© Arquitectura Manila Photo File</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Philippine capital of Manila was a city of high stature, comparable to those fine cities of the Occident such as Paris, London, and Madrid. The pre-war years have given Manila to acclaim itself as the '<i>Most Beautiful City in the Far East</i>' whilst Manila's neighbors, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore, were backwater outposts of their colonial masters. This is proven by the influx of European migrants and expatriates to the city in the first half of the 20th century. Germans, Spaniards, Americans, British, French, and Russians made Manila their home, at least, until the end of the Second World War. These migrants and expatriates mingled with the Philippine <i>alta sociedad</i> and had the city developed from a medieval Spanish city into a progressive capital of a semi-independent nation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Shopping around the city is one of the best things to do in Manila. Long before the existence of modern Philippine shopping mall complexes such as Rustan's, Shoemart, Robinson's, and Ayala, the Crystal Arcade is considered the first shopping mall in the Philippines.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Façade of the Crystal Arcade. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.lougopal.com/manila/wp-content/gallery/crystal_arcade/crystal-arcade-1940.jpg">© Lougopal.com/Manila Nostalgia</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Crystal Arcade was one of the most modern buildings located along the Escolta, the country's then premier business district. Built on the land owned by the Pardo de Tavera family, an illustrious Filipino family of Spanish and Poruguese lineage, the modern building was designed by the great Andrés Luna de San Pedro, a scion of the latter. The Crystal Arcade was designed in the art deco style, a style prevalent in the 1920s to the 1940s. It was to be one of Luna's masterpieces, with the building finish resembled that of a gleaming crystal. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The conception of a construction of the Crystal Arcade started in the 1920s as a pet project of Luna. Luna wanted to have the same prestige in the arts and architecture like that of his father, the great revolutionary-painter Juan Luna Novicio. To make such thing possible, he infused the sleek and streamline art deco design with crytal-like glass in his design for the building. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Andrés Luna de San Pedro (1887-1952) </span><a href="http://www.lougopal.com/manila/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Andres-Luna-architect.jpeg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Lougopal.com/Manila Nostalgia</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Crystal Arcade was inaugurated in June of 1932, and was the first shopping establishment, or the first commercial establishment that was fully air-conditioned. Its interiors reminded the Philippine elite of the arcades that of Paris, with covered walkways, glass covered display windows and caf</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">és and other specialty shops.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Crystal Arcade interior, adorned with a pair of grand staircases. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10421366_933748226687044_7779725941786763368_n.jpg?oh=2128970f5d78aece9fa9ddfd12c03b42&oe=55E3C42C">© Manila Nostalgia/Carmelo Mosqueda</a> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Inside the Crystal Arcade, one can find the home of the first Manila Stock Exchange, the precursor to today's Philippine Stock Exchange.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">A typical trading day at the Manila Stock Exchange inside the Crystal Arcade. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">According to sources, the Crystal Arcade was used to be owned by its architect, the great Andrés Luna de San Pedro, probably due to the land being owned by his maternal family, the Pardo de Taveras, but was <a href="http://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1939/oct1939/gr_l-45963_1939.html">foreclosed</a> by its creditor, the El Hogar Filipino, due to the financial situation that came about during the Wall Street crash and the Great Depression in the late 1920s to the early 1930s. The Crystal Arcade was also planned to have more floors but was eventually scrapped because of lack of funds. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">When the Crystal Arcade opened in 1932, it was the most elegant building in the area as it was constructed with glass which illuminates like crystal at night. Its interiors were also as elegant as the exterior, showing art deco lines and motifs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>"The Arcade had a mezzanine on both sides of a central gallery that ran through the length of the building and expanded at the center to form a spacious lobby containing curved stairways. Stairs, balconies, columns and skylight combined to create vertical and horizontal movement, as well as a play of light and shadow in the interior. Art deco bays pierced by a vertical window marked each end of the façade and complemented the tower over the central lobby. Wrought-iron grilles and stucco ornaments were in the art deco style featuring geometric forms, stylized foliage, and diagonal lines and motifs." </i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(excerpt from <i>Philippine Politics and Society in the Twentieth Century: Colonial legacies, post-colonial trajectories</i>)</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TwhBiyS3aXo/VT7mQpgBh_I/AAAAAAAABFM/niG8CcbSqEM/s1600/Crystal-Arcade-19371.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TwhBiyS3aXo/VT7mQpgBh_I/AAAAAAAABFM/niG8CcbSqEM/s1600/Crystal-Arcade-19371.jpg" height="227" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Escolta in 1937. The Crystal Arcade is on the left of the photo. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.lougopal.com/manila/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Crystal-Arcade-19371-1024x584.jpg">© Lougopal.com/Manila Nostalgia</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In 1941, the Second World War came to the Philippines only hours after Pearl Harbor was bombed. The capital city, Manila, was also bombed by the invading Japanese forces causing damage to the city. The following year, in January, triumphant Japanese forces entered the city despite of it being declared an open city. During the occupation years, the Crystal Arcade was home to Japanese occupation agencies such as the Japanese Government Railways and the Board of Tourist Industry. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The year 1945, for those who lived in Japanese-occupied Manila, was probably the most traumatic and devastating year. In the months of February and March saw the most bitter fighting in all of the Pacific. Sixteen thousand (16,000) fanatical Imperial Japanese Navy soldiers fought American and Filipino forces to the last man, bringing with them about one hundred thousand (100,000) civilians massacred. The effect of this bitter fighting resulted in the near-total destruction of the City of Manila. More than eighty (80) percent of the city's structures were obliterated, many of them into extinction. The Crystal Arcade, located along the Escolta, was one of the casualties of war, Escolta being one of the areas of fierce combat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A heavily damaged Crystal Arcade taken immediately after the liberation for Manila. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.genealogycenter.info/military/images/yamashita/MountzPhoto0041.jpg">© George Mountz Collection</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Shelled-out interiors of the Crystal Arcade.</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> <a href="http://www.lougopal.com/manila/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Crystal-Arcade-interior-1945.jpg">© Lougopal.com/Manila Nostalgia</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Immediately after the liberation of Manila, businesses soon opened even its locations were in shambles. In the Crystal Arcade, businesses reopened and some new businesses found a home in the Crystal Arcade. Only the first floor was occupied with stores and the second floor being a <i>bodega, </i>or storage room of the tenants. Eventually, in the 1960s, the Crystal Arcade was demolished to pave way for the post-war revival of the Escolta. Its successor, the new Philippine National Bank Building, designed by Carlos Argüelles, replaced the Crystal Arcade, the Lyric Theater, and the Brias Roxas Building.</span></div>
Paulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972040438656379457.post-69073209312451543032015-03-08T12:20:00.000+08:002015-03-08T12:20:35.902+08:00Heacock's Department Store<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OOxpZdLdZXU/VPuAPI5_OcI/AAAAAAAABBA/n6eDCnQxW1M/s1600/heacock1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OOxpZdLdZXU/VPuAPI5_OcI/AAAAAAAABBA/n6eDCnQxW1M/s1600/heacock1.jpg" height="408" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A typical scene outside Heacock's Department Store along the Escolta. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/1794632_10151927293217213_438483868_n.jpg?oh=f20fafa83410f5527e7337e043d184bf&oe=55874335&__gda__=1435482862_de607597d99a5c48b9b459bea1370861">© Manila Nostalgia/John Harper</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Long before the existence of today's department stores such as Rustan's, Robinson's, and the ever-famous Shoemart, now known as SM, there were already department stores that were far more luxurious than that of today's. Manila, being the city that boasted numerous feats in architecture, also hosted and boasted the finest shops and stores in all of the Orient. One of these department stores was Heacock's, probably the most recognized and popular stores in the city back in the day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Heacock's Department Store first became a jewelry store operating under the partnership name Heacock & Freer, two American brothers-in-law from San Francisco. H.E. Heacock, one of the partners, was a travelling salesman originally hailed from Salem, Ohio and first came to the Philippines in 1901 to open a branch of his jewelry store. After arriving in Manila, Heacock & Co. set up shop on the second floor of the McCullough Building at the foot of the Santa Cruz Bridge. Since then, Heacock & Co. became the best known American jewelry store in the city.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fb_z4EjPaAs/VPuLUBixbRI/AAAAAAAABBM/6No8AnNNfiU/s1600/heheacock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fb_z4EjPaAs/VPuLUBixbRI/AAAAAAAABBM/6No8AnNNfiU/s1600/heheacock.jpg" height="200" width="140" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">H.E. Heacock, one of the founders of H.E. Heacock & Company. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://retrato.com.ph/retratoimages/Midsize/FP/FP00198a.jpg">© Filipinas Heritage Library</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In 1909, the brothers-in-law Heacock and Freer sold the company to Samuel Francis Gaches, a young American entrepreneur-turned-philanthropist who arrived in Manila in the same year as Heacock, but the reason being is that Gaches worked for the American colonial civil service.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DEs3cQEN2a4/VPuQwPRoBFI/AAAAAAAABBc/0yPX4k_smzM/s1600/sfgaches.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DEs3cQEN2a4/VPuQwPRoBFI/AAAAAAAABBc/0yPX4k_smzM/s1600/sfgaches.jpg" height="200" width="103" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Samuel Francis Gaches, president of the H.E. Heacock & Company. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://retrato.com.ph/retratoimages/Midsize/FP/FP00155a.jpg">© Filipinas Heritage Library</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In the post-Gaches acquisition of the company, the year 1910, H.E. Heacock & Co. transferred its operations south, at an old building along the five-block Escolta. The old Escolta shop was renovated and had the most modern storefront in all of Manila with its products displayed in front, a first in the country. Eight years later, in 1918, Heacock's transferred its operations again due to the success of the department store. It moved one block east, along the Escolta corner Calle David. The new four-storey Heacock's Department Store was the most modern of its time. The department store was built on the lot of American businessman William J. Burke, the owner of the Burke Building on the Escolta.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The pre-1918 Heacock's Department Store along the Escolta. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/1424332_10202727449815746_926566543_n.jpg?oh=a27ea834c63513f26206c8104ff6f0f8&oe=557A93B9">© Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">As the years progress, Heacock's grew larger in terms of popularity and in assets. The H.E. Heacock & Company opened branches in other parts of the Philippines such as in Baguio, Cebu, Davao, and Iloilo. Heacock's, being the country's largest department store back in the day, carried imported luxury goods from the Elgin Watch Company, which carried the brands Lord Elgin, Lady Elgin, and Elgin. Other brands include Remington Typewriters, Rogers Flatware, International Silver, and Frigidaire Refrigerators.</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fbsgFSLOdR0/VPunOeWs_qI/AAAAAAAABB8/ESzciQ00PIc/s1600/heacock3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fbsgFSLOdR0/VPunOeWs_qI/AAAAAAAABB8/ESzciQ00PIc/s1600/heacock3.jpg" height="288" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">An ad from the Philippines Free Press dated December 1923 from Heacock's Department Store. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/1477706_674865485877666_445104365_n.jpg?oh=ffeaa8625ecebe39b429cd1ceced3853&oe=55916C56">© Manila Nostalgia/Aksyon Radio La Unión</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The year 1929 saw the birth of a stronger and larger Heacock's Department Store. Gaches and the H.E. Heacock & Company started the construction of the one million peso (P1,000,000.00), eight-storey Federal style building on the corner of Calle Escolta and Calle David. The new Heacock Building was designed and constructed by the triumvirate of the Filipino architect Tomás Argüelles, the American W. James Odom, and the Spanish Insular Fernando de la Cantera. Opened a year later, the Heacock Building had the same features that of the old Insular Life Building at Plaza Moraga.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Construction of the new Heacock Building in 1929. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.lougopal.com/manila/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Heacock-bldg-construction-on-Escolta-1929.jpg">© Lougopal.com/Manila Nostalgia</a> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In an article of the <i>American Chamber of Commerce Journal </i>in 1930, the new million-peso Heacock Building was described as being one of the tallest in the city. The article also described the interior layout of the department store.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>"The main entrance on the Escolta opens into Heacock’s proper, the jewelry store; then comes Denniston’s, the photographic department, with its valuable Eastman agency, and then the office equipment department. The jewelry store is L-shaped; one of the illustrations gives a good view of it.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>In the new building the Heacock store occupies the main and mezzanine floors, both handsomely finished and artistically arranged. The second floor is also all occupied by the Heacock company; the offices are there, and the stock, accounting, mail order, wholesale and optical departments. Four rooms on the third floor are given over to stock and records; the other rooms of that floor are rented as offices, as are the rooms and suites of the fourth, fifth and sixth floors. These rooms, all of them desirable because of their location and the building they are in, offer great latitude of choice.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>The seventh floor accommodates Heacock’s engraving and printing, watch-making, metal engraving, jewelry repairing and manufacturing departments; also the optical shop, Denniston’s photo laboratories, and stock of the office equipment department.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>The basement, under the entire building, counts as the eighth floor. It is to accommodate automobiles during the day. Seventy-five cars will not crowd it; a wide ramp opens from Calle David, egress and ingress are safe and convenient. This public service in connection with the Heacock building will materially mitigate the downtown parking nuisance." </i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(excerpt from the <i>American Chamber of Commerce Journal</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The new million-peso, eight-storey Heacock Building. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10351089_769141716470503_3347827900987580317_n.jpg?oh=314b627b2cf1b8a3741368c43b38ce3d&oe=55BEA3EB">© Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes (Retrieved from Arquitectura Manila Photo File)</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Interior of the Heacock Building on its opening in 1930. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.lougopal.com/manila/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Heacocks-interior-1930-1024x488.jpg">© Lougopal.com/Manila Nostalgia</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The triumvirate-designed edifice only lasted for seven years. In 1937, a powerful earthquake hit the Philippine capital which heavily damaged the Heacock Building. The building suffered irreparable damages which led to the demolition of the eight-storey building. Heacock's shut down its business and was quickly reorganized a month after the earthquake. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The new edifice, also eight stories high, replaced the old demolished Heacock Building. The new building, built in the streamline art deco style, was designed also by </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Tomás Argüelles, but with Fernando H. Ocampo and the American George E. Koster.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The new H.E. Heacock & Company Building in 1940. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/1797536_10203080013783967_627343051_n.jpg?oh=7e30d4614ac217a7f7e23b79a6b3377d&oe=558ECAFF">© Manila Nostalgia/Dominic Galicia</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The streamline art deco building had the latest in building technology, it had installed pneumatic tubes which could transport small parcels throughout the building without the need of a messenger. The building cost around P800,000.00, which is P200,000.00 cheaper than the triumvirate-designed Federal style building. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The new H.E. Heacock Building (center) houses Heacock's Department Store and the ammunition storage of the Philippine Army. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.lougopal.com/manila/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Heacocks-1941-1024x1024.jpg">© LIFE via Lougopal.com/Manila Nostalgia</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The deadly Battle of Manila in 1945 greatly reduced the city into rubble. Escolta, home of the city's financial district, was obliterated by bombshells and gunfires. The Heacock Building was damaged but was reconstructed after the war. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">The war-torn H.E. Heacock Building, 1945. </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1395/1473268426_14aba14689.jpg">© Skyscrapercity.com</a></span></div>
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Paulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972040438656379457.post-50008076869613639312014-12-20T06:28:00.000+08:002015-01-07T09:57:49.746+08:00A.M. Shorts: Michel Apartments<br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Michel Apartments at its splendor. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/984231_10204641453144633_1934539240210858801_n.jpg?oh=941d20cf1aa36a09b8fc3c26f66fb44a&oe=5507ED00&__gda__=1426336362_4e796e4c8ce723a28a40c71110ca860f">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Long before the rise of multi-storey residential apartments in post-war Manila such as in Makati, there were already numerous apartments that were as elegant, if not, more elegant, than those of today's, in pre-war Manila. Manila, being the capital of a prosperous Philippine Islands, was once home to many expatriates of different nationalities, such as Spanish, American, British, and German. And within the confines of the modern residential section of Ermita and Malate lies the Michel Apartments, one of the city's top residential apartment.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Michel Apartments was an art-deco, mid-rise apartment building designed by Francis 'Cheri' Mandelbaum, whose other work was the Rosaria Apartments nearby. Mandelbaum was an American architect trained in Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He also spent some time in the Philippines, coming to the islands in 1904 to work in the Bureau of Public Works with William Parsons, urban planner and architect of the Paco Station of the Philippine National Railways. Also, he worked as a professor of architecture at the University of Santo Tomás in Manila. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">At some time, the Michel Apartments was the tallest apartment building in the City of Manila. </span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iPRnQ8h6aTA/VJSh-q9anEI/AAAAAAAAA_0/W6qDI20Dl5U/s1600/1904074_10204813852894519_580317713761597828_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iPRnQ8h6aTA/VJSh-q9anEI/AAAAAAAAA_0/W6qDI20Dl5U/s1600/1904074_10204813852894519_580317713761597828_n.jpg" height="400" width="262" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Michel Apartments lay in ruins after the liberation of the city in 1945. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/1904074_10204813852894519_580317713761597828_n.jpg?oh=8ead8781584b968db242bc2b49d36375&oe=55068C5A">© Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Michel Apartments stand nine storeys high on a 1730-square meter lot along Calle A. Mabini in Malate, the residential section of the city where many of the country's pillars in social, economic, and political institutions resided. The Michel was commissioned by Don Pedro Sy-Quia y Encarnacion, a scion of the old and landed Sy-Quia family from the north. The Michel was said to be named after his wife, </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Do</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">ña Asuncion Michels de Champourcin y Ventura, a <i>mestizo</i> from Pampanga.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">This year, 2014, the Michel Apartments was hounded with a demolition permit, despite of it being a protected structure under law. The demolition of the Michel Apartments was stopped by heritage conservation activists and citizens alike through the "cease-and-desist order" from the court. But, the demolition of the Michel had already started when the court ruling came out, so it would be of no use.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Destruction of heritage structures should be given the highest priority, as physical heritage is rapidly declining because of irresponsible governance of local leaders. If the government continues to act in a way like they do not give importance to the country's heritage, then these structures will be prey to money-hungry developers.</span></div>
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Paulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972040438656379457.post-43040471053884626862014-12-19T09:03:00.001+08:002015-01-07T09:59:22.865+08:00A.M. Shorts: Admiral Apartments<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-thzuVIzFNSk/VItjv2fYYsI/AAAAAAAAA-E/Ylqx1hq05B4/s1600/admapart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-thzuVIzFNSk/VItjv2fYYsI/AAAAAAAAA-E/Ylqx1hq05B4/s1600/admapart.jpg" height="261" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Admiral Apartments back in the day, photo probably taken after the war. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/1656362_10151919867407213_2116676935_n.jpg?oh=294f94f58ea59e2d2628c858633e9c85&oe=55423D88">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/John Harper</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The grandeur of pre-war Manila makes people of today reminisce about the past, the past that has been prosperous and plentiful. Manila, being the finest city in the Orient proves its stately grandeur through the representation of the city's finest homes, shops, and imposing structures. Sadly, many of the structures that Manila boasts and had boasted is now being turned into fine pieces of powder as they are being demolished to pave way for the so-called "progress".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Along the scenic Dewey Boulevard, where the pride of the City of Manila, the Manila Bay, is located, there were numerous stately homes and apartments that stood in front of its glowing waters. One of them is the Admiral, located at the corner of Dewey Boulevard and Cortabitarte. The Admiral Apartments had been home to numerous historical figures, both local and global, and had been a witness to the gruesome days of the Second World War.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tj2-Y3wk-gc/VJCGQAbPvuI/AAAAAAAAA-U/QI0fgFVJiuU/s1600/admapa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tj2-Y3wk-gc/VJCGQAbPvuI/AAAAAAAAA-U/QI0fgFVJiuU/s1600/admapa.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Admiral Apartments during the post-war years. </span><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/1920569_10203085171438563_8997051_n.jpg?oh=226f1e2562f804394a86a103632b3f8d&oe=550B78A0&__gda__=1430116307_f381cf061fc91005c3dc80454575aa84"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Admiral Apartments along Dewey Boulevard, now Róxas Boulevard, was a work of the eminent Fernando H. Ocampo, whose other works include the Calvo Building along Escolta, Angela Apartments in Malate, and the post-war rehabilitation of the Manila Cathedral. Built in 1938 and completed in 1939, the Admiral Apartments was commissioned by Don Salvador Araneta Zaragoza and his spouse, Doña Victoria López de Araneta.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EIVGSk_tGWM/VJCJgL3QBQI/AAAAAAAAA-g/4AGtTlqIORs/s1600/lopezaraneta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EIVGSk_tGWM/VJCJgL3QBQI/AAAAAAAAA-g/4AGtTlqIORs/s1600/lopezaraneta.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Salvador Araneta Zaragoza and Doña Victoria López de Araneta. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Admiral Apartments, after its opening in the late 1930s, was one of the tallest residential building in the city, with eight storeys high living quarters. Because of its height, the Admiral became the focal point of sailors and ships anchoring in Manila Bay. </span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2hXdAIu-PTM/VJMpWTz42MI/AAAAAAAAA-w/DwFok2jtH7A/s1600/10487255_10204571430994123_4321492334194073952_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2hXdAIu-PTM/VJMpWTz42MI/AAAAAAAAA-w/DwFok2jtH7A/s1600/10487255_10204571430994123_4321492334194073952_n.jpg" height="200" width="184" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Modern-day Admiral Apartments-turned hotel. </span><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/10487255_10204571430994123_4321492334194073952_n.jpg?oh=393dfd03ead01baedf1ecfc35e807f7d&oe=54FC6FB1&__gda__=1426895365_753bfaf1c5e858e922bc9e4b04f47207"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">According to Manila society legends, the Admiral was conceived by </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Doña Victoria's mother, </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Doña Ana </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">López Ledesma. It was said that </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Doña Ana was responsible for financing the construction of the Admiral to please and impress the Aranetas, specifically Don Salvador's father Don Gregorio Araneta Soriano, because it has been told that Don Salvador had married </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Doña Victoria without their knowledge.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">The Admiral was designed in the art-deco style, designed by the eminent Fernando H. Ocampo. According to an architectural historian, he described the Admiral of having <i>"an air of quiet elegance with definite Spanish touches in the design of its fa</i></span><span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>çade. The apartments were pleasant spacious, airy, and bright rooms. The Spanish feeling became more pronounced in the reception room that opened directly to a side street. Both the furniture and the metal chandeliers reflected a Spanish Gothic style, rather forbidding in its formality." </i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(excerpts from a PowerPoint presentation by Isidra Reyes. Retrieved from Manila Nostalgia)</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The features of the Admiral's interiors, such as the main dining halls, were designed with different themes and motifs. <i>"The main dining room, called the Malayan Court, was so-called due to the strong Malayan motif of its design and an imposing mural painting by Antonio Dumlao. The Spanish Room was a reception room while a small dining room called the Blue Room was done in royal blue, old rose, crystal, and silver. A cocktail lounge called the Coconut Grove was decorated with a coconut trees with green light bulbs as fruits, inspired by the Cocoanut Grove Nightclub at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles." </i></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: xx-small; text-align: center;">(excerpts from a PowerPoint presentation by Isidra Reyes. Retrieved from Manila Nostalgia)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">During the war, the couple's own home, the <i><a href="http://arquitecturamanila.blogspot.ca/2014/05/am-shorts-salvador-araneta-and-victoria.html">Victoneta I</a>, </i>was seized by the Japanese and made it their headquarters. So, the couple and their family moved to the Admiral to seek refuge, along with other members of the </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">López-Araneta families. It has been said that </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Doña Victoria personally did the washing of the dirty linens and taking phone calls as the Admiral Apartments was understaffed. In the last days of the war, the Japanese took control of the Admiral Apartments. With that, the Araneta couple moved out of the Admiral and sought refuge in Baguio along with other members of the </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">López-Araneta family. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Admiral Apartments (top center), during the liberation of Manila in 1945.</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/10551046_10202245166553500_5961590567719192601_n.jpg?oh=d6dc895da98140dcb5e0296e53cf09e3&oe=54F9F2DB">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Andi Desideri</a> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The battle for the liberation of the City of Manila left most of the city in ruins. The Admiral Apartments was not severely damaged in the fight for the recapture of the Philippine capital. Shortly before the capitulation of the Japanese forces in the Philippines, top commanders of Allied nations in the Pacific stayed in the Admiral Apartments. The Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in the Pacific and Field Marshal of the Philippine Army Douglas MacArthur has made the Admiral his temporary home after his home in nearby Manila Hotel was bombed out during the liberation. The British supreme commander, The Earl Mountbatten of Burma, formerly Prince Louis of Battenberg, uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, also stayed in the Admiral Apartments.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Construction workers demolish the Admiral Apartments. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/photo/68296/another-historical-landmark-demolished">Ⓒ GMA News/Danny Pata</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">This year, in 2014, news regarding the Admiral Apartments sparked when it was reported that it is being demolished to pave way for a new development, the Admiral Hotel by Anchor Land Holdings. Petitions have been made throughout social media by heritage conservation activists and ordinary citizens alike, saying that the capital city of Manila has already had too much "massacre" of heritage buildings. The petition for the stopping of the demolition had reached the Manila City Hall, but took a blind eye on the issue. So, the developer, Anchor Land Holdings, continued the demolition, much to the disappointment and frustrations of heritage conservationists.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The year 2014 has already been a roller-coaster ride for Philippine heritage. No concrete plans and actions have been laid out by the government for the protection of heritage structures. As long as there are no concrete and stricter laws regarding the destruction of heritage structures, they will fall prey to greedy developers whose aim is to destroy the country's physical heritage. </span></div>
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Paulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972040438656379457.post-14992500400559736692014-11-06T10:33:00.000+08:002015-01-07T10:00:32.375+08:00De La Salle University St. La Salle Hall<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EMUpZ8hFgPA/VEK1UmzZvcI/AAAAAAAAA70/oNXKvlCGQjE/s1600/dlsuls1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EMUpZ8hFgPA/VEK1UmzZvcI/AAAAAAAAA70/oNXKvlCGQjE/s1600/dlsuls1.jpg" height="340" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The St. La Salle Hall of the De La Salle University during its heyday. </span><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/10622856_4564517647638_6574746702991094638_n.jpg?oh=5346dc11fdcd03304776e9936e605682&oe=54B3AAC3&__gda__=1424620150_7209b221d8a131dda57cc432aa7aee29"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Manila Nostalgia/Gilbert Jose</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Many have either walked past by this building or have walked through its halls. This outstanding structure is the epitome of institutional architecture in the Philippines, mainly because of its classical ornaments such as its white-washed walls and spacious halls. The St. La Salle Hall embodies the spirit of not just of the green and white, but also embodies the triumph of Catholic education in the Philippines.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Lasallian education in the Philippines was established in 1910 when the pioneer brothers arrived. It was not until in 1911 when the Brothers opened a school, which was then called the De La Salle College, at the Pérez Samanillo compound in Calle Nozaleda in Paco. Ten years later, as the student population began to increase and due to the lack of space, the De La Salle College moved to a much wider lot in the southwestern part of the city, along Taft Avenue in Malate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Construction of the St. La Salle Hall of then-De La Salle College. </span><a href="https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10500445_10203862770585341_6190763087788106922_n.jpg?oh=35eaf14e185f86bc9ff398856fd658d0&oe=54E6E9B3"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Manila Nostalgia/Gaby Tinio</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">A competition for the design of the new school building was initiated by the Lasallian brothers. Tom</span><span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">ás Map</span></span><span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">úa, a <i>pensionado</i> architect, won the competition against nine other entries and was awarded with a prize of P5,000.00. Map</span></span><span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">úa is the country's first registered architect who was one of the first-generation <i>pensionado</i> architects who studied abroad. Educated in Cornell University in New York, he became one of the country's leading architects during the pre-war years, with projects such as the De La Salle University's St. La Salle Hall and the Philippine General Hospital. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;">Tom</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">ás Map</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">úa y Bautista, architect of the St. La Salle Hall. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://xiaochua.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/15-nagwagi-ang-disenyong-neo-classical-ng-arkitektong-si-tomas-mapua.jpg?w=500">© Prof. Xiao Chua</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The cornerstone for the new school building was laid by the Archbishop of Manila, the Most Reverend Michael J. O'Doherty, in March of 1920. The St. La Salle Hall was completed almost four years after, owing to the phase-by-phase construction because of the Brothers' lack of funds. The new school building was officially opened in December 1924.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">St. La Salle Hall in the 1930s. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.easyphil.com/rankup_module/rankup_board/attach/expert44/14017686290875.jpg">© Easyphil.com</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">According to an article by Arch. Augusto Villalon on the <i>Philippine Daily Inquirer</i>, the St. La Salle Hall is the only Philippine structure to be included in the coffee-table book <i>1001 Buildings You Must See Before You Die: The World's Architectural Masterpieces. </i>Denna Jones, one of the book's contributors, Denna Jones, have written about the St. La Salle Hall as an epitome of classical and imperial style of architecture not just in the Philippines but also in Southeast Asia. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>"Mapúa's H-shaped, three-story reinforced concrete building is pure Classical expression. A triangular pediment crowns an entablature of cornice, frieze and architrave supported by Corinthian columns to create a three-bay portico main entrance."</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>"Wide, open-air portico wings extend from either side; the square openings on the third floor balanced over the rectangular openings of the upper floors? balustrade level. Corinthian pilasters and a dentiled cornice unite the floors between each arch."</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>"The interior quadrangle is similarly ordered but stripped to basic flat elements without benefit of pediment and entablature. A later addition of an exterior green metal slope-roof walkway wraps the ground level on the quadrangle side. </i></span><i style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The ground floor interior offsets Corinthian grandeur with the geometric simplicity of Tuscan columns, and a square coffered ceiling." </i><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">(<span style="font-size: x-small;">excerpt from Inquirer.net, original text by Denna Jones)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Chapel of the Most Blessed Sacrament. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/1526709_10203114500331767_790552106_n.jpg?oh=2acb211eff19575188d7aef6545b841b&oe=54DE781F&__gda__=1425455508_ec3da39f1e0a900c040cd55237b816ee">© Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">In 1939, an addition was made to the St. La Salle Hall. Map</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">úa added a chapel on the western-most side of the building. After its completion, it was named as the Chapel of the Most Blessed Sacrament and was dedicated to St. Joseph.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The years 1941 to 1945 were bitter years for the Philippines. The country was unexpectedly and forcibly dragged into war as the Japanese landed on Philippine soil. The capital city, Manila, was bombed by enemy planes. So, La Salle, being located at the far end of the city and being far from the city center of Binondo, Ermita and Sta. Cruz, became a center of refuge for civilians.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">De La Salle College, 1945. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/1623654_10203114521172288_1564361558_n.jpg?oh=74405d50c96c0a1975a929b9afc9d89f&oe=54AA699F">© Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A shelled-out balcony of the St. La Salle Hall. </span><a href="http://xiaochua.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/10-dahil-sa-tibay-at-kapal-ng-mga-pader-nito.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Prof. Xiao Chua</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Battle of Manila devastated and greatly reduced the Pearl of the Orient Seas into rubble. More than eighty (80) percent of the city's structures were either damaged or ruined. For the civilians, the date 12 February 1945 will forever be etched into their memories. It was when twenty-five (25) civilians and sixteen (16) Lasallian brothers were brutally <a href="http://www.pinoyexchange.com/forums/showthread.php?t=334445">massacred</a> by the fanatical Japanese forces who vowed to fight to the death in the name of the </span><span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Shōwa Emperor, known by many as Emperor Hirohito.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">St. La Salle Hall shortly after the Battle of Manila in 1945. </span><a href="https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/390615_546912692019237_928292247_n.jpg?oh=f604b464670f7282b4904723f6cc22db&oe=54EE0F1D"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© De La Salle University</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">After the liberation of the City of Manila, the St. La Salle Hall was in shambles. Its exterior shelled by belligerent forces, and its halls filled with the stench of death coming from the dead bodies massacred by the Imperial Japanese Forces. Shortly after, the surviving Brothers began to put La Salle back on its feet, introducing more programs into its curriculum offerings. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">At present, the St. La Salle Hall is now returned into its former glory by demolishing the front structure which housed the Marilen Gaerlan Conservatory. Because of the demolition, the University would now have an additional green breathing space.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">St. La Salle Hall at night. The Marilen Gaerlan Conservatory has not yet been demolished at this time. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://iblog.lasalle.ph/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2.jpg">© iBlog La Salle</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In its 103 years of existence as one of the premiere universities in the Philippines, the De La Salle University's St. La Salle Hall gives us stories to tell, stories that will forever be etched on its halls. The St. La Salle Hall is a witness to the country's colorful past, from the dark days of war to the liberation of an occupied nation, and will still be a witness to the progress of the nation in the future.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The St. La Salle Hall with the Marilen Gaerlan Conservatory demolished. </span><a href="https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/10351748_810897798961561_3074571205396208505_n.jpg?oh=3fecf63a4926bec69736517485c9e8a9&oe=54E10373"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Aaron Sumayo</span></a></span></div>
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Paulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972040438656379457.post-79903710228532355342014-09-15T07:28:00.001+08:002014-09-15T07:28:38.273+08:00A.M. Shorts: First City National Bank Building<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A faithful restoration being made at the First City National Bank Building, now known as the Juan Luna E-Services Building. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://cms.interaksyon.com/lifestyle/assets/2013/07/Image-5.jpg">© Interaksyon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Manila, capital of the Philippines for more than five hundred (500) years, is the seat of the country's political, educational, financial, and religious power. It's status as the country's primate city have earned the reputation of being the '<i>Most Beautiful City in the Far East</i>' and as the '<i>Paris of Asia</i>', but all these monikers were taken away after the city was greatly reduced into rubble during the dying days of the Second World War. Almost seventy years have past, and the city is still trying to regain its status as the finest city in the East. Here and there, new developments have been sprucing up, not to mention the priceless aspect called heritage. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The city was once a lively city, with its streets lined with shops and department stores, theaters, banks, and social clubs. In one of these streets, a building called the First City National Bank stood, and still is, standing proudly along the banks of the Pasig River.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Construction of the First City National Bank in the early 1920s. </span><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10609696_10204423727301623_3916665970478651298_n.jpg?oh=a4be6b0709e5ffe3907ef3f797186df9&oe=548250E4&__gda__=1419089585_940c1fe90940319621b6aa5c0820f674"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The First City National Bank Building is a five-storey office building located along the corner of Calle Juan Luna, formerly Calle Anloague, and Muelle de la Industria in Binondo. One prominent building also stands along the thoroughfare which is the El Hogar Filipino Building. The building, a joint project between the International Banking Corporation and the Pacific Commercial Company, sits on a 1,800 square meter lot and is designed by the architectural firm Murphy, McGill, and Hamlin of New York in the beaux-arts style of architecture. Its design is said to be originated from the management of the International Banking Corporation, with its design coming from the trademark bank design of the company in other overseas branches. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">First City National Bank, viewed from the banks of the Pasig River. </span><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/1604563_10204423727581630_5737474945123909138_n.jpg?oh=ec13bad1996d883698c381aa40aaa490&oe=54CDC363&__gda__=1419506012_ffa65c2bba671792000827c4c8e52b0f"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">According to University of the Philippines' Prof. Gerard Lico's book entitled '<i>Arkitekturang Filipino: A History of Architecture and Urbanism in the Philippines</i>', it is stated that the First City National Bank's design was a prototype of the other overseas bank branches.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>"The bank’s prototype was made up of a row of colossal columns in antis, which was faithfully reproduced for its Manila headquarters. The ground floor was fully rusticated to effect a textured finish. This floor had arched openings with fanlights emphasized by stones forming the arch. The main doors were adorned with lintels resting on consoles. Above the ground floor were six three-storey high, engaged Ionic columns, ending in an entablature topped by a cornice. These six columns dominating the south and west facades were, in turn, flanked by a pair of pilasters on both fronts. The fifth floor was slightly indented and also topped by an entablature crowned by strip of anthemion." </i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(excerpt from <i>Arkitekturang Filipino: A History of Architecture and Urbanism in the Philippines</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The First City National Bank Building in the 1960s. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The First City National Bank Building survived the horrors of the Battle of Manila in 1945. It was one of the few buildings left almost intact. During the post war years, the building was briefly used as the office of Ayala Life-FGU until they completely moved out to transfer to Makati. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Recently, an interest on the First City National Bank Building was shown after it was bought by a business process outsourcing company to be converted into a call center. The building was renamed as the Juan Luna E-Services Building and is still under restoration. As of this year 2014, the restoration of the building is almost complete and will soon be ready to be leased to its new occupants.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The new Juan Luna E-Services Building currently under careful resotration. </span><a href="http://www.theurbanroamer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/0550-54_thumb.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Urban Roamer</span></a></span></div>
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Paulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972040438656379457.post-34791976278218178542014-07-31T05:30:00.000+08:002014-08-27T10:59:33.540+08:00University of Santo Tomás Main Building<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M_LKDe4wPXg/U7RRu4ebiqI/AAAAAAAAA1I/d5RE5gcvvag/s1600/ustmain1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M_LKDe4wPXg/U7RRu4ebiqI/AAAAAAAAA1I/d5RE5gcvvag/s1600/ustmain1.jpg" height="392" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The University of Santo Tomás Main Building during the pre-war years. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/t1.0-9/10415729_10152263438081847_8198215092552093654_n.jpg">© Old Manila Nostalgia via Ram Roy</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">If there were to be a competition on the best university building anywhere in the Philippines, the best bet would be the University of Santo Tomás in Sampaloc, Manila. Many have bear witness to the building's colorful history. It has gone through the darkest days of war up to the present problems of the university -- flooding. The main building of Santo Tomás has a lot to offer to the community.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomás, or UST, is a Catholic university run by the Order of Preachers, or simply known as the Dominicans. It is also the oldest university in Asia, being founded in 1611, even older than Harvard University itself. Many of the Philippines' distinguished men and women have either graduated or have attended at this prestigious university. Heroes like Dr. José P. Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar, and Emilio Jacinto; statesmen like Claro M. Recto, Manuel L. Quezón, and Sergio Osmeña have all attended Santo Tomás. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Santo </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Tomás</span></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">' new location in Sulucan Hills, now part of present-day Sampaloc. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8528/8493592883_a5f8a5de13_k.jpg">© Flickr/John Tewell</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Before being located on its present site, Santo Tomás held its classes inside the walled city in Intramuros, where the old Santo Domingo Church also stood. The university had been wanting to move its operations outside Intramuros because of its ever-increasing student population. The move to a larger site was fulfilled only after three hundred years of being at its Intramuros campus. In 1911, a donation was given to the Dominican Fathers, a 22.1 hectare land located in Sulucan Hills, in the northeastern part of the city. The estate was then a property of the Sisters of Saint Clare, but in the early 1900s, they disposed off the land and sold to developers. One of the buyers, Doña Francisca Bustamante Bayot, donated the land to the Dominicans. The land was bordered by four streets: Calle España, Calle Gov. Forbes, Calle Dapitan, and Calle P. Noval. Because the new campus was more than enough to accomodate its population, the plan was that half of the property was originally intended for Colegio de San Juan de Letrán. However, the plan was not materialized.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Fr. Roque Rua</span><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">ño, O.P., architect and engineer of the Main Building. </span><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/archive/0/0e/20090823095146!Rev._Fr._Roque_Rua%C3%B1o.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Wikipedia</span></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The university received the donation of the Sulucan property in 1911, the tricentennial anniversary of Santo Tomás. In December of that year, the laying of the first cornerstone was made by the Dominican Fathers, headed by the university's Rector Magnificus Fr. José Noval, O.P., and other distinguished guests. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The development of the new Sulucan property did not materialize until the 1920s due to lack of funds. However, the development of the design had already started. With the development of the new campus went into full swing, the project was handed over to Fr. Roque Ruaño, O.P., a Spanish Dominican who was a former rector of the Colegio de San Juan de Letr</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">án. Rua</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">ño, a civil engineer, had meticulously researched earthquake-proof engineering designs and had tested them when he designed Dominican friar houses in Baguio and Lingayen. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Construction for the Main Building started in 1923. Rebars are being installed, as seen in the photo. </span><a href="https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/t1.0-9/10246429_10152121173539412_7151777081916989773_n.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Manila Nostalgia/Prof. Vic Torres</span></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Designed in the Renaissance Revival style of architecture, Fr. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Rua</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">ño's design for the Main Building was advanced in its time, as some say it still complies with today's National Building Code. Construction started in 1923, but Fr. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Rua</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">ño had already spent the last two years procuring building materials such as cement and rebars from Japan. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>"The Sulucan strata consisted of fine sand and loamy clay heavily interspersed with land and marine shells, a situation where the land layers moved at different directions during a tremor. This prompted Fr. Ruaño to combine two methods of laying foundations: Isolated piers were linked with a continuous slab foundation, so that the structures above would sway independently of each other during an earthquake. In five years, 200 workers from Pampanga slowly raised 40 separate small towers that provided the basic framework of what is today?s Main Building (it was called 'New Building' then, there being no other edifice in the campus). Fr. Ruaño kept revising his plans, the latest after a trip to Tokyo in 1926 where he observed the effects of the recent earthquake there and in Yokohama." </i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(excerpt from Inquirer.net)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Construction of the Main Building taking place, circa 1923-1927. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/t1.0-9/970733_10152121724369412_2800093889105030238_n.jpg">© Manila Nostalgia/Prof. Vic Torres</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Main Building has four floors, plus an additional nine-storey clock tower, which contained the water tanks for the hydraulic engineering laboratory. The building is seventy-four (74) meters wide and eighty-six (86) meters long, with two courtyards on each wing. The main engineering feat of the Main Building is that it was built in forty (40) separate structures so that the building would not easily crumble if an earthquake occurs. Also, an additional floor was added to accommodate laboratories.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Main Building finally opened in time for the 1927-1928 school year. It was a relief for the university administration as they wanted to de-clog its Intramuros campus as fast as possible. </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">After its opening in 1927, the Main Building, specifically the clock tower, served as the city</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">'s </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">"<i>Kilometer Zero</i></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">" until it was replaced by the Rizal Monument in Luneta. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Main Building, circa 1928. </span><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10262034_10202686126968919_1885799998471065083_n.jpg?oh=8a99f905eb294603b4483ea11a86d235&oe=54460D43&__gda__=1414009660_301020bb53cee07818180d4c21878f3c"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Manila Nostalgia/Lou Gopal</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">After its opening, the university administration moved some of its operations at Sulucan. The colleges of Philosophy, Pharmacy, Education, Liberal Arts and Medicine held classes inside its halls. The university library also moved in Sulucan, occupying its northeast wing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Main Building during the 1930s. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/t1.0-9/10245276_811883468840642_5192857956319069423_n.jpg">© Manila Nostalgia/Mon Ancheta</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Because of the Main Building's grandeur, it was constructed right at the heart of the twenty-two hectare Sulucan property. It became the focal point of the university, in which the succeeding buildings were all built around it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Pre-war Santo Tomás came into a halt in 1941 when the Japanese bombed the City of Manila. However, the Japanese occupation of the Philippine capital did not materialize until January of 1942 when the Philippine Commonwealth left Manila for Bataan. For Santo Tomás, war did not spare them from being dragged into occupation. The university was converted into an internment camp, being host to about four thousand Allied and foreign civilian prisoners-of-war, with nationalities such as American, British, Canadian, Australian, Dutch, Pole, Russian, Spanish, Cuban, Mexican, Burmese, Swedish, Danish, and Chinese.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">After its establishment in 1942, the Santo Tomás Internment Camp became one of the largest in the Philippines.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Allied and other foreign internees made shantytowns in one of the Main Building's courtyards. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1.0-9/563976_734485616567687_1308264212_n.jpg">© LIFE/Carl Mydans via Discovering the Old Philippines: People, Places, Heroes, Historical Events</a></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ORnU1YwR4TQ/U9QHTmf0q8I/AAAAAAAAA3M/DQBAnpwBeQc/s1600/ustinternment2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ORnU1YwR4TQ/U9QHTmf0q8I/AAAAAAAAA3M/DQBAnpwBeQc/s1600/ustinternment2.jpg" height="330" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">An aerial view of the Main Building. Take note of the cramped shanties built in and around the Main Building. </span><a href="https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/t1.0-9/10376317_834148836614105_8176716342764692084_n.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Manila Nostalgia/Mon Ancheta</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">During the Japanese occupation of Santo Tomás, the university grounds literally became a miniature city. The Japanese had established a government inside, appointing an American named Lemuel Earl Carroll as its head. According to accounts, the internees owed so much to Carroll, stating that his leadership received favorable approval from the internees.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h2XWEgUq3j0/U9QKSq4pW2I/AAAAAAAAA3Y/6AlnENL3yMs/s1600/ustinternment3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h2XWEgUq3j0/U9QKSq4pW2I/AAAAAAAAA3Y/6AlnENL3yMs/s1600/ustinternment3.jpg" height="312" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A Japanese propaganda photo depicting life inside Santo Tomás. </span><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/t1.0-9/10157134_10202345402291015_1467974298_n.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Santo Tomas Internment Camp/Lou Gopal</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In February of 1945, the combined Filipino and American armies made an assault on the City of Manila. They first took Santo Tomás with the belief that the Japanese will execute all internees as they retreat from the capital. As the American tanks and troops advanced through the campus, they were met by Japanese resistance. The Japanese took the Education Building and held two hundred (200) internees hostage. After negotiations made by a British missionary named Ernest Stanley, the Japanese agreed to leave Santo Tomás and rejoined with other Japanese units in Manila.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Sua3a9mg3WQ/U9QOhSACC1I/AAAAAAAAA3k/cIV3BaUSJs0/s1600/Santo_Tomas_Internment_Camp_Liberation_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Sua3a9mg3WQ/U9QOhSACC1I/AAAAAAAAA3k/cIV3BaUSJs0/s1600/Santo_Tomas_Internment_Camp_Liberation_.jpg" height="400" width="390" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">The flag of the United States is draped at the canopy of the Main Building, signifying the liberation of the Santo Tomás Internment Camp from the Japanese.</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: xx-small;"> <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5c/Santo_Tomas_Internment_Camp_Liberation_.jpg">© LIFE/Carl Mydans via Wikipedia</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The war had left most of the city into rubble. Santo Tom</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">ás, however, was not heavily damaged during the liberation as it was still host to a number of Allied war prisoners. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">After the war, life had returned to normal, students went back to school after a three and a half years hiatus. </span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DHiM5cGHfig/U9p55T8cD3I/AAAAAAAAA30/JdHcYCbDb7I/s1600/ustmain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DHiM5cGHfig/U9p55T8cD3I/AAAAAAAAA30/JdHcYCbDb7I/s1600/ustmain.jpg" height="401" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;">University of Santo Tom</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">ás Main Building circa 1945. </span><a href="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7181/7059879697_ab70096e84_b.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Flickr/John Tewell</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">In 1952, during the silver jubilee of the Main Building, an addition to the Main Building was made. Through the initiative of then-Rector Magnificus Fr. </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Ángel de Blas, O.P., fifteen (15) statues of famous saints, philosophers, and other personalities of the arts and sciences were installed at the pedestals made long before. In the original plan, Fr. Ruaño had purposely built pedestals to put in statues, but it was only made into fruition years after his death. The statues, measuring three meters in height, were sculpted by the great Francesco Riccardo Monti, an Italian expatriate and then-professor of the College of Fine Arts. Monti also made a number of significant works in Manila's buildings such as in the Manila Metropolitan Theater, Capitol Theater, Manila Electric Railroad and Light Company Building along Calle San Marcelino, and the Quezón Memorial.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pgoysb1nE00/U9p_yF_jXeI/AAAAAAAAA4M/-K5Eji1S_ys/s1600/padreangeldeblasop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pgoysb1nE00/U9p_yF_jXeI/AAAAAAAAA4M/-K5Eji1S_ys/s1600/padreangeldeblasop.jpg" height="200" width="126" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fsCuXpVnOs4/U9p_xBx2PcI/AAAAAAAAA4E/hwSJWqKgDTo/s1600/monti.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fsCuXpVnOs4/U9p_xBx2PcI/AAAAAAAAA4E/hwSJWqKgDTo/s1600/monti.jpg" height="200" width="172" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">THE INITIATOR AND THE SCULPTOR: The University's Rector Magnificus, Very Rev. Dr. Fr. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ángel de Blas, O.P. (left), and the master builder Francesco Riccardo Monti (right) </span><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e3JRz3AFbIQ/T8J2JC8OpLI/AAAAAAAAAD8/42TIqmJxjzY/s320/Prof.+Monti.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Anna Filippicci</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In 2010, a year before the quadricentennial anniversary of the University, the National Museum of the Philippines declared the Main Building, along with other important structures in the University, as National Cultural Treasures.</span><br />
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Paulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972040438656379457.post-27278346654179850232014-06-27T05:26:00.000+08:002014-06-27T05:26:45.841+08:00Ideal Theater<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aq1PlYkEBWg/U6s8aqGKLTI/AAAAAAAAAyY/z22Bb8D6AOo/s1600/ideal1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aq1PlYkEBWg/U6s8aqGKLTI/AAAAAAAAAyY/z22Bb8D6AOo/s1600/ideal1.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ideal Theater during its pre-war heyday. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/t1.0-9/10151267_10203517685811152_1853020909438405168_n.jpg">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Manila was a city which served as a model of pre-war prosperity. Its other Far Eastern neighbors such as Singapore and Hong Kong were no match to Manila's outstanding beauty. The city boasted the finest shops, restaurants, theaters, and institutions that made it earn the title '<i>Most Beautiful City in the Far East</i>'. Along the fabulous Avenida de Rizal, known to many as the <i>Avenida</i>, there are numerous theaters to choose from. One of these theaters was the Ideal, considered by Manila's <i>alta sociedad</i> as one of the best theaters in the city.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Ideal Theater was an art-deco masterpiece designed by the National Artist for Architecture Pablo Antonio in 1933. The theater, owned by the Roces family, in partnership with Teotico, Basa, Tuason, and Guidote families, has been operating since 1912, with the first theater made out of wood. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-if_QaDEX27c/U6tAmppNx2I/AAAAAAAAAyk/IDXugGXPhAA/s1600/pantonio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-if_QaDEX27c/U6tAmppNx2I/AAAAAAAAAyk/IDXugGXPhAA/s1600/pantonio.jpg" height="320" width="238" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Pablo Antonio y Sebero, architect of the Ideal Theater. </span><a href="http://historyofarchitecture.weebly.com/uploads/4/1/8/6/4186116/337847.jpg?360"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ History of Architecture</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">As mentioned, the Ideal Theater was commissioned by the Roces family to Pablo Antonio, one of the second-generation Filipino architects who came back after studying or training overseas. Antonio</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">'s commission on the Ideal made an impact to his career. Later on, he would design other Manila landmarks, such as the Far Eastern University, White Cross Orphanage, and the post-war Manila Polo Club in Forbes Park. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4r5CLB2qX6g/U6tEebQwHcI/AAAAAAAAAyw/2dMeKg_cDF4/s1600/mliving5od8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4r5CLB2qX6g/U6tEebQwHcI/AAAAAAAAAyw/2dMeKg_cDF4/s1600/mliving5od8.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Ideal was then the exclusive exhibitors of MGM motion picture films in the Philippines. </span><a href="http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/6790/mliving5od8.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ Paulo Alcazaren</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Ideal projected an art-deco style of architecture. This type of architectural style was prevalent in the 1930s, wherein cinemas and theaters were designed using this style. One of its interesting features is that it boasted a streamline design -- that is, it was adorned with smooth curves and finishes. After its completion in 1933, the Ideal became one of the city's best theaters. Because of its location along the Avenida de Rizal, many theaters soon rose on its grounds. Rival theaters such as the State, Ever, and Avenue owned by the Rufino family built their theaters along Avenida de Rizal. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t4WDpnWFtME/U6yCJyXKBRI/AAAAAAAAAzA/huZtcg9N0n8/s1600/ideal2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t4WDpnWFtME/U6yCJyXKBRI/AAAAAAAAAzA/huZtcg9N0n8/s1600/ideal2.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">The Ideal (center), and the Roces Building (left), taken sometime in the late 1930s.</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: xx-small;"> <a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/t1.0-9/10171912_10203517686251163_7792017514428257519_n.jpg">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</a></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Yrb7UcvI8uA/U6yEf2aFAXI/AAAAAAAAAzM/hSdK14QGIps/s1600/1461453_10203517566048158_4987906324861913468_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Yrb7UcvI8uA/U6yEf2aFAXI/AAAAAAAAAzM/hSdK14QGIps/s1600/1461453_10203517566048158_4987906324861913468_n.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ideal Theater's proscenium. Take note of the streamline design of the arches. </span><a href="https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/t1.0-9/1461453_10203517566048158_4987906324861913468_n.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">During the Japanese occupation, the Ideal, along with other theaters in the city did not feature Hollywood films, but instead showed Japanese films and stage plays used for propaganda. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KMuKmH2OKN4/U6yG6_PCO2I/AAAAAAAAAzY/29YYC_v87pQ/s1600/Ideal+jap-tank.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KMuKmH2OKN4/U6yG6_PCO2I/AAAAAAAAAzY/29YYC_v87pQ/s1600/Ideal+jap-tank.jpg" height="435" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Filipinos welcoming the Japanese as they paraded triumphantly in the newly-captured city of Manila. The Ideal Theater can be seen on the left. </span><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--KNjARPUv2s/UHz2ZxxSTII/AAAAAAAAECw/Zx4GGu2bTo4/s1600/Ideal+jap-tank.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ Alfredo Roces</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The liberation of the City of Manila in February of 1945 brought great suffering to hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. More than fifty percent of the structures in the city were either damaged or completely ruined. The Ideal was one of the structures in the city that was not totally devastated during the month-long battle. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZTIPQKMpmf0/U6yJQptpCnI/AAAAAAAAAzs/t5J5Sfbu3no/s1600/avderizal1945.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZTIPQKMpmf0/U6yJQptpCnI/AAAAAAAAAzs/t5J5Sfbu3no/s1600/avderizal1945.jpg" height="305" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Avenida de Rizal after the liberation in 1945. The Ideal (left) and State (right) theaters can be seen. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2522/4215932138_17b0800e94_o.jpg">Ⓒ Flickr/Beyond Forgetting</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Post-war rehabilitation came immediately after 1945. Many of the city's destroyed structures were either rebuilt or completely demolished to pave way to new and modern structures. The Ideal was rebuilt, along with other movie theaters in the city. In fact, movie theaters were the first to be rebuilt as many people demanded entertainment. </span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k6S4cFZiuyA/U6yLnNkt7EI/AAAAAAAAAz4/hDfsR5VMrxA/s1600/ideal3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k6S4cFZiuyA/U6yLnNkt7EI/AAAAAAAAAz4/hDfsR5VMrxA/s1600/ideal3.jpg" height="396" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ideal Theater in the early 1960s. </span><a href="https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/t1.0-9/10252182_10152777933689338_8547823224468165507_n.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Jess Espanola</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The emergence of air-conditioned shopping malls such as Quad and ShoeMart paved way to the decline of the standalone movie theaters. In the case of the Ideal, and other theaters located along the <i>Avenida</i>, it was due to the construction of the elevated Light Rail Transit in the 1980s. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Ideal, once the gem of Rizal Avenue's theaters, closed down in the 1970s and was demolished to make way for shopping arcade.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UrkdcqG2D9U/U6yOGHFWgMI/AAAAAAAAA0E/QuAc3hsO63E/s1600/ideal4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UrkdcqG2D9U/U6yOGHFWgMI/AAAAAAAAA0E/QuAc3hsO63E/s1600/ideal4.jpg" height="400" width="276" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Ideal Theater taken sometime in the 1970s. </span><a href="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsr3ziOXAI1qelyds.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ The Urban Historian</span></a></span></div>
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Paulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972040438656379457.post-21006399879448343452014-05-31T05:54:00.000+08:002014-06-27T05:24:54.456+08:00A.M. Shorts: La Insular Cigar and Cigarette Factory<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--Dt9QAgFmkw/U4jzE8jtigI/AAAAAAAAAxY/ImbfZiZfqb0/s1600/insularcigar1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--Dt9QAgFmkw/U4jzE8jtigI/AAAAAAAAAxY/ImbfZiZfqb0/s1600/insularcigar1.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Insular Cigar and Cigarette Factory in Binondo. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/ee/16/e6/ee16e68d3572ed5442975daee29f81d1.jpg">© Arkitekturang Filipino via Pinterest</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Pre-war Manila was a haven for architectural beauty. Structures dating from the 16th century Spanish architecture up to the 20th century American style architecture, Manila had it all. The city's numerous edifices made it as the '<i>Paris of Asia</i>', and the '<i>Most Beautiful City in the Far East</i>'. But all that monikers were taken away when the city was wiped out during the dying days of World War II. Since then, Manila has never regained its status as the finest city in the Orient.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">On the northern part of the city lies Binondo, considered as the city's business district and home to the world's oldest Chinatown. One of the most imposing structures one can find during the pre-war years was located in this part of the city, the La Insular Cigar and Cigarette Factory.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Two imposing structures adorn the Plaza Calderón de la Barca, the Hotel de Oriente (left), and the La Insular Cigar and Cigarette Factory (right). </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.lougopal.com/manila/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Hotel-de-Oriente-1899-m.jpg">© Lougopal.com/Manila Nostalgia</a> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The La Insular Cigar and Cigarette Factory was a three-storey, Neo-Mudéjar structure located along on the right of Binondo Church along the Plaza Calderón de la Barca. Like its neighbor, the Hotel de Oriente, the La Insular was also designed by Spanish architect Juan José Hervas Arizmendi, under the command of its owners, Don Joaquín Santamarina and Don Luis Elizalde. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>Note: Names are written in standard Spanish naming custom. Spanish names are written without the Filipino 'y'. So, for males (or single females), it would be [given name][paternal family name][maternal family name]. For married females, it would be [given name][paternal family name][maternal family name]de[husband's family name]. For widows, it would be [given name][paternal family name][maternal family name]vda.de[husband's family name].</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Juan José Hervas Arizmendi, architect of the imposing La Insular Cigar and Cigarette Factory.</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> <a href="https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/t1.0-9/1977286_10201791532403038_6196362436978035261_n.jpg">© Manila Nostalgia/Paulo Rubio</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The La Insular was established sometime in the 1880s after the abolition of the tobacco monopoly by the Spanish colonial government in the Philippines. Its owners, </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Don Joaquín Santamarina, Don Luis Elizalde, and their associates formed the La Insular Tobacco as a result. </span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gD1-_a9JINo/U4j7b2GwbmI/AAAAAAAAAx8/8pwSaC5k3gA/s1600/insularcigar2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gD1-_a9JINo/U4j7b2GwbmI/AAAAAAAAAx8/8pwSaC5k3gA/s1600/insularcigar2.jpg" height="282" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">La Insular Cigar and Cigarette Factory. Photo taken from the Plaza </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Calderón de la Barca in front of the Hotel de Oriente. The Binondo Church can also be seen in the background. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t1.0-9/10363685_10152341239402752_469820439072525190_n.jpg">© Skyscrapercity.com via Manila Nostalgia</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">One of the most distinguishing features of the La Insular was its neo-m</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">udéjar style of architecture. Only a few structures in the city were designed in the neo-m</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">udéjar style, one being the former Augustinian Provincial House in Intramuros. The La Insular stood out from the rest of the structures located along the plaza due to its tall archways and projecting balconies, which were adorned with intricate lampposts. In its interior, the La Insular sported a broad staircase and a courtyard.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A wiped-out Manila in aerial view. The La Insular`s ruins is nowhere to be found as it was completely consumed by fire in 1944.</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> <a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7121/7574933488_0d246f6f9d_c.jpg">© Flickr/John Tewell via Skyscrapercity.com</a> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In 1944, a fire destroyed the beautiful La Insular cigarette factory. It was never again rebuilt due to the liberation of Manila in 1945. </span></div>
Paulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972040438656379457.post-45694439232938291492014-05-03T03:45:00.000+08:002014-05-17T03:50:52.279+08:00A.M. Shorts: Salvador Araneta and Victoria López Residence<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">'<i>Victoneta I</i>', the Salvador Araneta and Victoria López residence in Mandaluyong. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/t1.0-9/1520743_10151890239092734_238134423_n.jpg">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Derrick Manas</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Manila's pre-war homes were some of the most beautiful in the Far East, for the city was host to landed families of Spanish, Chinese, and American descents. These stately homes got an upper hand location-wise, in which some of the houses were built either in the Spanish enclave of San Miguel or at the new American area of Ermita. But this is not always the case. Some families actually chose to build their homes outside of the city, where one can feel the cool breeze of the wind. An example of this was in Mandaluyong, a town not far from Manila, where the '<i>Victoneta</i>' was built.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The '<i>Victoneta I</i>', owned by the aristocratic couple Salvador Araneta and Victoria López de Araneta, was one of the stately homes built outside the city. Built in 1933 by three architects, namely Domingo Lerma, and the greats Juan Arellano and Andrés Luna de San Pedro, the <i>Victoneta </i>won the title '<i>Most Beautiful Home of 1933</i>' because of Doña Victoria's luxurious taste. The house boasts a number of feats: the <i>Victoneta</i> had thirty-three rooms, making it one of the largest houses in the city, it had a private chapel with its own entrance, and was designed by three architects in different phases because of its massive size.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Do</span></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">ña Victoria López and Don Salvador Araneta. </span><a href="https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/t1.0-9/1902063_10203093629210002_1303741844_n.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</span></a></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Don Salvador Araneta Zaragoza is the son of Don Gregorio Araneta Soriano. Both are members of the illustrious Spanish-Filipino Araneta family, whose roots hail from Gipuzkoa in the Basque Country of Spain. Do</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">ña Victoria </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">López was a member of the </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">López </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">sugar barons of Iloilo, where her first cousin Don Eugenio </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">López Hofile</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">ña was one of the country's richest men during the post-war years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>Note: Names are written in standard Spanish naming custom. Spanish names are written without the Filipino 'y'. So, for males (or single females), it would be [given name][paternal family name][maternal family name]. For married females, it would be [given name][paternal family name][maternal family name]de[husband's family name]. For widows, it would be [given name][paternal family name][maternal family name]vda.de[husband's family name].</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">One of </span><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Victoneta</span></i><span style="font-size: x-small;">'s many patios and gardens. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1.0-9/10262090_10203538251405279_7051015637573095774_n.jpg">© Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Victoneta</span></i><span style="font-size: x-small;">'s chapel entrance. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1.0-9/1511654_10202993852235640_1570610629_n.jpg">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">As stated earlier, the <i>Victoneta </i>was built in 1933 by architects Domingo Lerma, </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Juan Arellano and Andrés Luna de San Pedro using the Hispano-Moresque-Mediterranean styles of architecture. Because of its grandeur, it won the title '<i>Most Beautiful Home of 1933</i>'. Located on a 17,000 square meter property in Mandaluyong, <i>Victoneta </i>was a portmanteau of the names Victoria and Araneta, the names of the house owners. One of <i>Victoneta</i>'s features was the chapel. The chapel had intricate seats whose interiors were designed by the great </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Andrés Luna de San Pedro. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Chapel interiors of the <i>Victoneta</i> designed by </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Andrés Luna de San Pedro. </span><a href="https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1.0-9/1551755_10202789601169491_617974153_n.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</span></a></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">An overview of the grand </span><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">sala</span></i><span style="font-size: x-small;">. </span><a href="https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t1.0-9/10325246_10203538252565308_2467617838949015403_n.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The <i>Victoneta </i>had a lot of rooms because of </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Do</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">ña Victoria </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">López de Araneta's tastes. The house had a very large <i>sala</i>, or living room, where the Aranetas had the great Fernando Amorsolo commission a painting for them entitled '<i>The First Baptism in the Philippines</i>'. Unfortunately, the painting, along with the rest of the house, were destroyed during the liberation of Manila in 1945. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">One of the bedrooms at <i>Victoneta</i>. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1.0-9/1525097_10202790057340895_720351648_n.jpg">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Victoneta</i>'s grand <i>sala</i>. A massive painting commissioned to Fernando Amorsolo hangs on its walls. </span><a href="https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t1.0-9/1148753_10202789961538500_1226952746_n.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The war years were a time of hardship for the Araneta couple. It has been said that the Japanese had been eyeing the house because of its sprawling property. The Aranetas vacated the house after it was confiscated by the Japanese, and left Manila for Baguio to be with the other Araneta and </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">López family members. In 1945, the <i>Victoneta </i>was used as a refugee center where around seventy civilians were interred. As the combined Filipino and American forces were closing in to Manila, the Japanese had a bomb planted inside the chapel. Unfortunately, the bomb went off after a Filipino refugee accidentally detonated it. All of the refugees inside were instantly killed. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></div>
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<i style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Victoneta</span></i><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">'s dining area. </span><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1.0-9/10313625_10203538254765363_8422875919874344416_n.jpg" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> <i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Victoneta</span></i><span style="font-size: x-small;">'s chapel lay in ruins after the liberation of Manila in 1945. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1.0-9/1544381_10202974017694602_2072231971_n.jpg">Ⓒ Isidra Reyes/Edwina Litton Ortigas</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">After the war, Don Salvador and </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Do</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">ña Victoria had decided not to rebuild the <i>Victoneta</i>, due to the reason that many lives were killed inside. Instead, the Araneta couple abandoned the property and relocated to Malabon, where another house also named <i>Victoneta</i> stood. </span><br />
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<i style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Victoneta</span></i><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"> in ruins. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1.0-9/1525267_10202974016614575_1408822485_n.jpg" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Edwina Litton Ortigas</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">The original <i>Victoneta</i> just laid in ruins for decades after 1945. The ruins were finally demolished recently.</span></div>
Paulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972040438656379457.post-42636378189578106092014-04-18T07:45:00.000+08:002014-04-18T07:45:02.013+08:00Historia Filipinas: Don Pedro Pablo Róxas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Don Pedro Pablo 'Perico' Róxas Castro (1847-1912)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">If you are wondering why we're now featuring places, faces, and events, this is because we've improved our site after our first year anniversary. Also, we at A.M. want to re-educate Filipinos on our history and heritage by featuring people, places, events, and organizations that helped shape Philippine society. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Don Pedro Pablo </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas Castro was a Spanish-Filipino businessman, capitalist, industrialist, financier, and patriot. Don Pedro, or Perico as he was called by his friends and family, was born on June 28, 1847 in Manila. His parents were Don Jos</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">é Bonifacio </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas Ubaldo and </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Doña Juana Castro. Don </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Jos</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">é Bonifacio </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas Ubaldo</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> was the son of Don Domingo </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas Ureta</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">, one of the founders of today's Ayala Corporation. He was also the younger brother of philanthropist-industrialist </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Doña</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> Margarita </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> Ubaldo de Ayala.</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;"> All are</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;"> members of the influential and illustrious </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;"> family which include </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">siblings Jacobo, Alfonso, and Mercedes </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Zóbel de Ayala </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas, brothers Antonio and Eduardo </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas Gargollo, Don Andr</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">és Soriano </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas, and </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas and Company chairman Pedro E. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas Olgado</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">. Other members of the </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas family include Don Enrique Brias </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas, former Manila mayor Don</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small; text-align: center;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Félix María Róxas Fernandez, architect</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small; text-align: center;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Félix Róxas Arroyo, the late president Manuel </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas Acu</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">ña, and now-DILG secretary Manuel </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas Araneta.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>Note: Names are written in standard Spanish naming custom. Spanish names are written without the Filipino 'y'. So, for males (or single females), it would be [given name][paternal family name][maternal family name]. For married females, it would be [given name][paternal family name][maternal family name]de[husband's family name]. For widows, it would be [given name][paternal family name][maternal family name]vda.de[husband's family name].</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Don Jos</span><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">é Bonifacio </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Róxas Ubaldo (1818-1880) </span><a href="http://www.ayala.com.ph/ayalaat175mag/images/pioneers2.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Ayala Corporation</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Don Perico was educated in Manila at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran in the walled city of Intramuros. Showing interest in Philippine affairs, he earned his father's trust by letting him vote during an election in their town in Calauan, Laguna, where their vast <i>hacienda</i> is located. Don Perico had shown interest in the family business his forbears had been working hard for. So, at a young age, Don Perico helped his father in the business by assisting in their palm distillery, sugar and rice estates in Nasugbu, Batangas. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Don Perico, already an established figure in Manila society, married his first cousin Doña Carmen de Ayala </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas, daughter of </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Doña Margarita </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas Ubaldo de Ayala and Don Antonio de Ayala Urbina. Their union secured the wealth of the </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas-de Ayala family for generations. After he had married his cousin, Don Perico worked for his wife's company at Ayala y Compa</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">ñía. After the death of his father, Don Perico had inherited all </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas family interests, which included the vast estates in Calatagan, Nasugbu, Calauan, and San Pedro de Macati. Don Perico did not keep the inheritance for himself, he distributed many of the </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas lands to other family members such as the Hacienda de San Pedro de Macati to the </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Zóbel-</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas, and the Hacienda de Calauan to the Soriano-</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas family. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Already one of the country's richest men, Don Perico made his wealth even larger by becoming San Miguel's financier and manager. Established in 1890 through a royal grant by Don Enrique María Barreto Ycaza, San Miguel needed financiers and capitalists for it to grow. So, Don Perico financed its operation and became one of its major shareholders, along with Don Gonzalo Tuáson Pati</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">ño, and Don Benito Legarda </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Tuáson. Because of this, the </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas family had the majority number of seats in the board, appointing his cousins, nephews, and even grandchildren. Don Perico's tenure at San Miguel was cut short when he was forced to leave the islands in exile to France in 1896.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Filipino exiles in Paris. From L-R seated: F. de Almores, Felipe Agoncillo, Don Pedro Pablo </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Róxas Castro, Antonino Vergel de Dios. L-R standing: B. Villanueva, Antonio </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Róxas de Ayala, Enrique Brias de Coya, P.A. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Róxas. </span><a href="http://webzoom.freewebs.com/philippineamericanwar/Filipino%20officials%20in%20Paris%201898.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Philippine-American War, 1899-1902</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Don Perico, a <i>mestizo</i> with <i>criollo</i> parents, supported the Filipino cause of independence, in which he inherited through his father and grandfather's liberal views. The </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas family is known to have liberal views, in which cost one of their relatives' life. Don Francisco L. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas Reyes, Don Perico's second cousin, was executed along with twelve other patriots for supporting the Katipunan movement. As a result of his cousin's death, all persons bearing the </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas family name were ridiculed and insulted by the Spanish colonial authorities. Don Perico, being the wealthiest </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas family member, was suspected of financing the Katipunan and the independence movements. So, he was forced into exile in Paris, France. While in exile, the Spanish colonial government charged him with treason and had all of his properties confiscated. Don Perico was not the only exile in Paris, his friend Don Gonzalo </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Tuáson also left the islands for Europe. According to </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Félix María Róxas Fernandez's book, <i>The World of </i></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;"><i>Félix Róxas, </i>it is said that Don Perico managed to survive in Paris while in exile through the help of Don Gonzalo </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Tuáson, in which he wrote to </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Tuáson's family to send funds immediately. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Don Félix María Róxas Fernandez (1864-1936), former Mayor of Manila, and second cousin of Don Pedro Pablo </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Róxas Castro. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Róxas, along with the great diplomat Felipe Agoncillo, represented the newly-independent Philippine Republic at the Treaty of Paris in 1898. However, the Philippine Republic was denied in participating in the talks between Spain and the United States. </span><a href="http://webzoom.freewebs.com/philippineamericanwar/Felix%20M.%20Roxas%20as%20Batangas%20governor%201901-02.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Philippine-American War, 1899-1902</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">While in exile, Don Perico had already developed an illness even before he left the Philippines. Don Perico never again returned to the Philippines as he passed away on February 14, 1912. In Manila, news of his death was relayed throughout the family. According to </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;"><i>The World of </i></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;"><i>Félix Róxas, </i>Mayor </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Félix Róxas recalled his nephew, Antonio </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Róxas de Ayala, calling him to come to their house for an important matter. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>"Felix Roxas y Fernandez — that patrician raconteur of Spanish Manila — recalled how, in 1912, his nephew Antonio Roxas de Ayala [son of the first cousins Pedro Pablo Roxas y de Castro and Carmen de Ayala y Roxas] had urged him to come to their house quickly by telephone. Felix rushed to the Roxas-de Ayala residence [designed by his father, Felix Roxas y Arroyo] along Calle General Solano in the posh San Miguel District, was met by the Spanish maid named Marcelina, and proceeded directly to the masters’ bedroom where the grieving Roxas family was gathered. There, he was informed that his dear second cousin, Pedro Pablo Roxas, had already passed away in Paris and that his remains would have to be brought back to Manila. His nephew Antonio Roxas declared that he and his uncle Felix would leave for Paris immediately." </i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(excerpt from <i>Remembrance of things Awry</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Don Perico's grave in Paris. His remains would later be brought back to Manila to be interred in the family plot at San Agust</span></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">ín Church in Intramuros. </span><a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/219/525848901_5343ac506a_o.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Paquito dela Cruz</span></a></span></div>
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Paulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972040438656379457.post-21708966556998386422014-04-06T08:55:00.000+08:002015-06-09T23:19:54.251+08:00El Hogar Filipino Building<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The El Hogar Filipino, one of the city's oldest American era structures, now on the verge of destruction. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://nhcphistoricpreservation.blogspot.com/2014/03/nhcp-encourages-adaptive-reuse-of-el.html?m=1">© Historic Preservation Journal</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">'<i>Every building has its own story</i>'. Yes, everything, from people to buildings, each has its own story to tell. Structures, though they are non-humans, have also experienced what humans had experienced, such as wars, revolutions, calamities, etc. Buildings, especially old ones, are reminders of a particular era that they were in. So, they are meant to be preserved as they are our physical gateway to the past. The City of Manila boasts many structures that tell stories, many of which have seen the capital transform from an ever loyal Spanish city, to a vibrant American <i>Pearl of the Orient Seas, </i>and to a colorful yet chaotic capital of the Philippine Republic. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The El Hogar Filipino Building is one of those structures that tell stories of the past. The building has seen numerous events, from the American insular government to the Philippine Commonwealth, from the Second Philippine Republic to the liberation of the city, and finally the independence of the country in 1946.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">An old colored photo, probably a postcard, of the El Hogar Filipino Building. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/v/t1.0-9/1604471_10202998416949755_204345053_n.jpg?oh=f6e16fa36207bab2abf15897c808f601&oe=539F5F70">© Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The El Hogar, known in Spanish as the Edificio El Hogar Filipino, is a five-storey office building designed in the beaux-arts/renaissance/neo-classical styles of architecture. Located along Calle Muelle dela Industria by the Pasig River, the El Hogar is flanked by the First City National Building on the right, and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Building on its rear and was designed by Spanish-Filipino engineer Don Ramón José de Irureta-Goyena Rodríguez</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">. The El Hogar was built sometime between 1911 and 1914, which it was said to be a wedding present in celebration of the</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> marriage of Do</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">ña Margarita Zóbel y de Ayala, sister of patriarch Don Enrique Zóbel y de Ayala, and Don Antonio Meliá</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">n Pavía, a Spanish businessman who was titled as the </span><i style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Conde de Peracamps</i><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Don Ramón José de Irureta-Goyena Rodríguez, architect of the El Hogar Filipino. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8081/8257170630_39b8ac446c_z.jpg">© Manila Nostalgia/Paquito dela Cruz</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;">Don Antonio Meli</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">án Pavía, </span><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">el Conde de Peracamps</span></i><span style="font-size: x-small;">, and owner of the El Hogar Filipino. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3173/2471292331_a5d3a75be6_o.jpg">© Manila Nostalgia/Paquito dela Cruz</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The El Hogar Filipino was owned by Spanish businessman and <i>Conde de</i></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i> Peracamps</i>, Don Antonio </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Meli</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">án Pavía. According to the <i>Cornejo's Commonwealth Directory</i>, </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Meli</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">án was born in the Canary Islands in Spain on May 21, 1879. From Spain, he sailed to Peru in 1903 where he held posts in the insurance company La Previsora and in the Casino Espa</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">ñol de Lima. In 1907, he married Don Enrique's sister Doña Margarita Zóbel y de Ayala. In 1910, he sailed from Peru back to the Philippines and established the El Hogar Filipino and the Filipinas Compañía de Seguros together with his brothers-in-law Enrique and Fernando </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Zóbel y de Ayala. </span><br />
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<i style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Note: Names are written in standard Spanish naming custom. Spanish names are written without the Filipino 'y'. So, for males (or single females), it would be [given name][paternal family name][maternal family name]. For married females, it would be [given name][paternal family name][maternal family name]de[husband's family name]. For widows, it would be [given name][paternal family name][maternal family name]vda.de[husband's family name]</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">A group photo of the El Hogar Filipino leaders and employees. The <i>Conde de Peracamps</i> is seated at the center, with Don Francisco Ortigas Barcinas (seated, sixth from right), Don Enrique </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Zóbel y de Ayala (seated, fourth from right), and his brother Don Fernando </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Zóbel y de Ayala (seated, third from right).</span></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"> The description reads: <i>Sr. </i></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;"><i>Meli</i></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>án, with the directors and employees of El Hogar Filipino whose company was founded by the said gentleman</i>.</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> <a href="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2869/10049551295_a00a109c4f_o.jpg">© Manila Nostalgia/Paquito dela Cruz</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">The El Hogar (left), and the First City National Bank Building (right) viewed from the other side of the Pasig River.</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: xx-small;"> <a href="https://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1.0-9/1800303_10202093152064917_475901355_n.jpg">© Manila Nostalgia/Ingrid Donahue via Lou Gopal</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The El Hogar housed the </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Meli</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">án business empire, such as the </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Filipinas Compañía de Seguros, </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Tondo de Beneficiencia, Casa de Espa</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">ña, Casa de Pensiones, and El Hogar Filipino. Other tenants of the El Hogar include Ayala y </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Compañía, Sociedad Liz</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">árraga Hermanos,</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> and Smith, Bell and Company. The </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Filipinas Compañía de Seguros moved out of the El Hogar in the 1920s after the completion of its own building at the foot of the Jones Bridge in Plaza Moraga, a short walk from the El Hogar. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The El Hogar during the 1920s. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1.0-9/1920377_620658214673965_692934883_n.jpg">© Philippine History and Architecture</a> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">One of the building's interesting features is that the building has its own garden courtyards, not one, but two. Another feature that make the El Hogar unique was its <i>mirador</i>, or balcony. From the El Hogar's balcony, one can see the Pasig River, the southern part of Manila, which includes the walled city of Intramuros, Ermita, and Malate. Also, the El Hogar's staircase is considered as one of the most ornate in the city, with a sculpted mythical griffin, as its base. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The El Hogar's intricate staircase grillwork, which included a sculpture of a mythical griffin. </span><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/v/t1.0-9/1623760_10202885160278409_1241784405_n.jpg?oh=89d675f7f6522b204ba66cd45c16095a&oe=53B0C34B&__gda__=1404647294_c79c3d4349cdbc87684d085d12ccf051"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</span></a></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7rPQEGvXIos/U0BTnZv0yMI/AAAAAAAAArU/YCPCWtLfzV4/s1600/426440_484249201624365_1169972002_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7rPQEGvXIos/U0BTnZv0yMI/AAAAAAAAArU/YCPCWtLfzV4/s1600/426440_484249201624365_1169972002_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">A memorial plaque in which encases the El Hogar's time capsule. The plaque reads: <i>E</i></span><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><i>xcmo. S</i></span></span><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><i>r. Don Antonio </i></span></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small; font-style: italic; text-align: justify;">Meli</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>án y Pavía, Conde de Peracamps. Funadador de 'El Hogar Filipino' 1911.</i> It has been reported that the plaque has been removed, and </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">so as the time capsule. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1/s720x720/426440_484249201624365_1169972002_n.jpg" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">© Manila Nostalgia/Stephen John Pamorada</a><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The El Hogar survived the Battle of Manila in 1945 and only suffered minor damages. In the post-war years, the lending company El Hogar Filipino had closed down, along with other </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Meli</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">án businesses, leaving only the </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Filipinas Compañía de Seguros. Because of this, the </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Meli</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">áns sold the El Hogar to the Fernandez family, and </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">the El Hogar was rented out to other companies. The building was finally abandoned as an office building some decades ago. Since the Muelle dela Industria area had a chaotic, Brooklynesque vibe, it became the set for films and television shows. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bPgIgnRhoNY/U0Ba2WQMbPI/AAAAAAAAArk/o8Cjo0Qp0oU/s1600/El-Hogar-1968.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="251" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bPgIgnRhoNY/U0Ba2WQMbPI/AAAAAAAAArk/o8Cjo0Qp0oU/s1600/El-Hogar-1968.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">El Hogar and the First City National Bank Buildings in the late 1960s. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://definitelyfilipino.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/El-Hogar-1968.jpg">© Definitely Filipino</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Just this year, news involving the El Hogar sparked when it was reported that it was sold to a Chinese-Filipino real estate developers, which reported that it will demolish the El Hogar because of the building's stability, and be turned into a condominium. The news spread like a wildfire throughout heritage conservationists, cultural advocates, and ordinary citizens alike. Heritage conservationists had written to both the city government of Manila and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, or NHCP, to stop the demolition of the El Hogar. Because of this, a <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/mayor-joseph-estrada-and-vice-mayor-isko-moreno-save-el-hogar-building-asap">petition to stop the demolition</a> was created. As of today, 730 supporters have already signed the petition. The new owner of the El Hogar however, who was not named, said that they do not have plans of demolishing the El Hogar, but will use it as a warehouse instead. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Details of the El Hogar. One can see the beaux-arts elements such as arched windows present in the building. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FSWXCz4JIcU/Ux-dOQ2afZI/AAAAAAAAFAQ/P83OD_nvI74/s1600/El+Hogar+%28January+26+2014%29+%283%29.JPG">© Historic Preservation Journal</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">The El Hogar's </span><i style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">mirador</span></i><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> gives it a unique charm, and one can view the Pasig River and other areas of the city. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-akT3LxYgIvc/Ux-dOKe3PiI/AAAAAAAAFAM/HuPWypVAnHI/s1600/El+Hogar+%28January+26+2014%29+%284%29.JPG">© Historic Preservation Journal</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It is our responsibility as citizens to preserve and take care of the built heritage our forefathers left. They may seem not significant to many, but they also have witnessed numerous triumphs and challenges the country experienced. They may be inanimate objects, but they also have its own character and its own story to tell. If these buildings could talk, we believe that they are pleading to us citizens right now to help save them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">At Arquitectura Manila, we educate Filipinos of our glorious architectural past through this website. As heritage conservation advocates, we believe that all heritage structures, not just the El Hogar, be given justice as it we are only its caretakers. If the El Hogar was to be restored, it should be turned into something productive, just like its neighbor First City National Bank, maybe something like a boutique hotel, or New York-style apartments with cafés and restaurants on its lobby. And, who knows, the El Hogar may be host to the country's first standalone luxury boutique?</span></div>
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Paulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972040438656379457.post-39757451913863094142014-03-30T04:20:00.000+08:002014-04-07T04:21:23.354+08:00Capitol Theater<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B2S1Wb4w4Jc/UzcZ0SB-5rI/AAAAAAAAAks/cA6xVyI6rjs/s1600/1503329_10202679704222136_521099074_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B2S1Wb4w4Jc/UzcZ0SB-5rI/AAAAAAAAAks/cA6xVyI6rjs/s1600/1503329_10202679704222136_521099074_n.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The ever-beautiful Capitol Theater along the busy Escolta. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1.0-9/1503329_10202679704222136_521099074_n.jpg">© Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Pre-war Manila was a city of entertainment, its streets lined with nightclubs, cabarets, theaters, cinemas, and social clubs. The city had so much theaters that some were built right in front or beside each other. So, along the stretch of the beautiful Escolta is a first-class theater that many members of the <i>alta sociedad</i> prefer, which is the Capitol Theater.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Capitol Theater sits on prime land at the western side of the Escolta, once the country's premier business and shopping area north of the Pasig River. The Capitol Theater is one of the city's many cinema theaters, but not the Escolta's only cinema as its rival (later sister) theater Lyric is only two buildings away from the Capitol.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JqkoSxbVWvo/UzchlVmJ-pI/AAAAAAAAAlE/S3O_uwErVrU/s1600/Capitol-Theater-facade-1934.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JqkoSxbVWvo/UzchlVmJ-pI/AAAAAAAAAlE/S3O_uwErVrU/s1600/Capitol-Theater-facade-1934.jpg" height="400" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A photo of the Capitol during its grand opening. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.lougopal.com/manila/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Capitol-Theater-facade-1934.jpg">© Lougopal.com/Manila Nostalgia</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Capitol Theater was built in 1935, and a masterpiece of National Artist Juan F. Nakpil de Jesús, who also designed the Pérez Samanillo Building together with the great Andrés Luna de San Pedro. It was designed and built in the art-deco style of architecture, an architectural style that was prevalent in the 1920s and 1930s. The Capitol had a total of eight hundred seats, and one of Manila's air-conditioned theaters. One interesting feature of the Capitol was its design. Inside the theater, Nakpil made use of double balconies, which was then a rare architectural design. Its lobby adorned murals designed by the triumvirate composed of Filipino modernists Victorio C. Edades, Carlos V. Francisco, and Galo B. Ocampo. According to documents, Nakpil originally commissioned Edades to work on the mural. Edades then chose '<i>Botong</i>'<i> </i>Francisco to be his assistant, who then brought with him Ocampo. The three had just returned from the United States and hoped to change the Philippine art scene long dominated by the masters Fernando Amorsolo and Guillermo Tolentino. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xaB_2tWhWdI/UzcnSBI99EI/AAAAAAAAAlU/DqWC6qmeTus/s1600/1487370_10202679633780375_517613206_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xaB_2tWhWdI/UzcnSBI99EI/AAAAAAAAAlU/DqWC6qmeTus/s1600/1487370_10202679633780375_517613206_n.jpg" height="404" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Capitol Theater's mural called '</span><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Rising Philippines</span></i><span style="font-size: x-small;">' adorned its lobby. From L-R are: Carlos V. Francisco, Severino Fabie, Galo B. Ocampo, Victorio C. Edades, and Arch. Juan F. Nakpil. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/t1.0-9/1487370_10202679633780375_517613206_n.jpg">© Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">There are other interesting things about the Capitol Theater. Its façade has two bas-relief sculptures designed by Italian sculptor and expatriate Francesco Riccardo Monti. Monti's other works also include the bas-relief sculpture called '<i>Furies</i>' at the old Meralco (then Manila Electric Railroad and Light Company, now the Manila Electric Company) Building along Calle San Marcelino, sculptures atop University of Santo Tomás' main building, and the sculptures at the Quezón Memorial in Quezón City.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Escolta corner Calle Nueva. The Capitol Theater can be seen on the right side of the photo. </span><a href="https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t1.0-9/1601288_10202760995534368_717715544_n.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The bas-relief at the Capitol portrays two Filipinas in the tradional Filipiniana attire. Both sculptures are placed on both sides of the theater's </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">façade.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>"The Capitol Theater, designed by Juan Nakpil in 1935, explicitly portrays Filipinas in the native garb on the front elevations. The women, set within a tropical landscape, evoke a faraway rural and bucolic place very much different from the urbanized and built-up setting of the commercial district of Escolta in Manila. If the situation is closely inspected, the Filipino designers employing art deco were not considered as part of the “rural folk” being represented in the stylistic ornamentations, but rather were metropolitanized architects who were in fact part of the “new” cultural elite of cosmopolitan Manila (Salamanca 1968, 91-92). Thus, they were not necessarily experiencing in their daily lives the “rural” and “native” imagery that they were enacting." </i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(excerpt from Heritage Conservation Society)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Monti's bas-relief sculpture featuring Filipinas in tradional Filipino attire. </span><a href="https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1.0-9/1424458_212548878916708_306444603_n.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Capitol was owned and operated by theater moguls Vicente and Ernesto Rufino, whose family owned many theaters throughout the city such as the Lyric, State, Grand, Ever, and Avenue Theaters. But, according to José Victor Torres</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">' '</span><i style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Manila: Studies in Urban Cultures and Traditions</i><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">', the Tuason family first owned the Capitol through their purchase of the Eastern Theatrical Company Inc.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>"The heirs of Demetrio Tuason first engaged in show business by purchasing the Eastern Theatrical Enterprises which owned the Fox Theater and operated the Metropolitan Theater. The Tuason family then put up the Eastern Theatrical Co., Inc. The encouraging results prodded the heirs to build the Capitol Theater at the Escolta which was inaugurated in 1935. This also became the new office of the family company. The company also purchased the Lyric Theater from the Peoples Bank and Trust Company in 1939. This acquisition made the company sole owners of the two modern movie houses at the Escolta. The Lyric Theater in itself had an interesting history. In 1917, the Exhibitor’s Exchange, which was owned by the firm of France and Goulette, built the first Lyric Theater on the side of the old Botica Boie at the Escolta. It was remodeled in 1927, changed ownership in 1935 and remodeled again in 1937. President of the Eastern Theatrical Co., Inc. was Jose Tuason and Nicasio Tuason was General Manager." </i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(excerpt from <i>Manila: Studies in Urban Cultures and Traditions</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Capitol and the Escolta viewed from inside a shop also along the majestic street. Photo taken sometime in the late 1930s. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.lougopal.com/manila/wp-content/gallery/escolta/escolta-1929_0.jpg">© Lougopal.com/Manila Nostalgia</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A colored photo, probably a postcard, of the Escolta business area. The Capitol is on the left side of the photo. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/t1.0-9/995043_572122056172471_619728354_n.jpg">© Arquitectura Manila Photo File</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Escolta and the Capitol during the mid-thirties. </span><a href="https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6080/6160413355_a6fb582168_b.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© LIFE via Flickr/Beyond Forgetting</span></a></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Japanese occupation came about in 1942, with the defeat of the combined Filipino and American forces in Corregidor. During the war years, the Escolta still continued to be the center of gravity in the city. Since most theaters in the city featured American films before the war, they were banned from being showed by the Japanese High Command. The Capitol instead showed local films, live production acts, and Japanese propaganda tools. It has been said that Fernando Poe Sr. was a film producer in the Capitol during the Japanese occupation.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qBgWV8tcY1s/UzcvfXe3kbI/AAAAAAAAAmI/MSqYwMY93yU/s1600/Escolta2-empty-air-raid-Dec1941.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qBgWV8tcY1s/UzcvfXe3kbI/AAAAAAAAAmI/MSqYwMY93yU/s1600/Escolta2-empty-air-raid-Dec1941.jpg" height="400" width="376" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Conducting an air raid in December, 1941. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.lougopal.com/manila/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Escolta2-empty-air-raid-Dec1941.jpg">© Lougopal.com/Manila Nostalgia</a></span><a href="http://www.lougopal.com/manila/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Escolta2-empty-air-raid-Dec1941.jpg"> </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Battle of Manila had ravaged more than eighty percent of the city's infrastructure, displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians, and left one hundred thousand civilians dead. The Capitol was one of the unfortunate buildings that were damaged, though not as destroyed as her neighbors like the Crystal Arcade, Cu-Unjieng Building, and the Masonic Temple. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">An aerial view of the Escolta-Binondo-Sta. Cruz areas showing the extent of damages done by both American and Japanese forces. The Capitol (encircled) can also be seen. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8227/8444033902_4cb1c03654_b.jpg">© Flickr/John Tewell</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Life at the Escolta came back to life after the liberation of the city. The Capitol was renovated and was once again up and running until it ceased operations decades ago. This was the trend of movie theaters in Manila during the late 1970s to the 1980s, where standalone theaters close due to the opening of shopping malls that include movie theaters. Today, many standalone theaters no longer feature blockbuster films, but rather operate underground where soft pornographic films, or <i>bomba</i>, are shown.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Recently, the Capitol's interior has been abandoned, leaving only its façade. Several small business establishments and a restaurant used to operate inside.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Art-deco detail of the Capitol Theater. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_-7nAsSucICg/R3tZyEliWqI/AAAAAAAACBk/plQBX13e3bs/s1600/cap6.jpg">© Super Pasyal</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">There are initiatives done to preserve the historic Escolta. The Escolta Commercial Association is an organization composed of owners of business establishments along the Escolta. Also, another intiative called '<i>Hola Escolta</i>' was made in 2012 which seeks the revitalization of the Escolta. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Here at A.M., our goal is to educate the Filipino people about Manila's glorious architectural past. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">These built heritage are a part of our nation's history, may it be signifcant or not.</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> To do this, we must preserve the architecture of the past as we are its stewards. We do not own these historic structures, we are only taking care of it for the next generation. So, in the words of Ayala Corporation President and COO Fernando </span><span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Zóbel de Ayala Miranda: "<i>Your focus is always on the legacy, on the history, and really looking forward to the next generation, and making sure that you pass the baton in the same way that it has been passed on to you.</i>" </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Capitol Theater, circa 2012. </span><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vxXrXl7s0IE/TxfMKxPg0JI/AAAAAAAAAj0/e2JNmvXCZf0/s640/IMG_3437.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© The Filipinas</span></a></span></div>
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Paulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972040438656379457.post-36282263383054686102014-03-29T09:20:00.000+08:002014-04-07T04:18:01.716+08:00Pérez Samanillo Building<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DO5vp_xR12I/UzXRz9Bq03I/AAAAAAAAAi0/LJXS8LD8PFI/s1600/Perez_SamanilloBuilding_Then-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DO5vp_xR12I/UzXRz9Bq03I/AAAAAAAAAi0/LJXS8LD8PFI/s1600/Perez_SamanilloBuilding_Then-1.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Pérez Samanillo Building during the early pre-war years. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1.0-9/1390737_10202120919932878_887677680_n.jpg">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The City of Manila was a very lively city, filled with theaters, clubs, restaurants, parks, beautiful residential homes, and magnificent office buildings. The city would not become the best in the Orient if not for its diverse population, a city and a nation filled with many nationalities such as Filipino, Spanish, American, British, Japanese, Chinese, German, etc. Because Manila was the center of economic activity in the Philippines, massive edifices were built to house institutions that are drivers of growth. In pre-war Manila, architects had to push their creativity skills as the city demanded too much buildings to be built in designs that will stand out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The magnificent thoroughfare of the Escolta, once the seat of economic and social activity, would not be complete with the addition of the ornate </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Pérez Samanillo Building standing proud on its fine sidewalks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">The </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pérez Samanillo Building (right), together with the old Roxas Building (now the Regina Building, left) during the late 1920s. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t1.0-9/1391838_10201368463788163_215199364_n.jpg">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Lou Gopal</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Pérez Samanillo Building, originally called the Edificio Luis </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Pérez Samanillo, sits along the Escolta and Calle David. The building, together with the Regina Building across the street, serves as entry to the Escolta from Plaza Goiti in Sta. Cruz. Built in 1928, the </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Pérez Samanillo was designed in the art-deco/art-nouveau style through the partnership of the great architects </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Andrés Luna de San Pedro and Juan F. Nakpil de Jesús. The owner of the building is its namesake, Don Luis </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Pérez Samanillo, a Spanish businessman whose father, Don Manuel </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Pérez Marqueti, was credited for the developent of Paco in the 19th century. The </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Pérezes owned the famed Hotel de Oriente at the </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Plaza Calderón de la Barca, the hotel where Dr. Jos</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">é Rizal stayed when he was in Manila, and the Casa </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Pérez Samanillo in Barcelona, where it was reported that the <i>Caudillo </i>Generalissimo Francisco Franco Bahamonde witnessed the 'Victory Parade' after the Spanish Civil War. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">The </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Pérez family suffered ill-fated events as the patriarch, Don Luis </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Pérez Samanillo was killed by the communists during the Spanish Civil War, and his son, Luis </span><span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Pérez de Olaguer-Feliú was killed by the Japanese in Manila during the Second World War. </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Don Luis </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Pérez Samanillo, owner and namesake of the </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pérez Samanillo Building. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.calameo.com/read/003123209530746200822?authid=MUT3Xt3x9eSj">Ⓒ Calameo.com</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The building stands at the former property then-owned by Don Manuel de </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Azcárraga Palmero-Versosa de Lizárraga, brother of Gral. Marcelo de Azcárraga Palmero-Versosa de Lizárraga, the only Spanish Prime Minister of Filipino descent. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>Note: Names are written in standard Spanish naming custom. Spanish names are written without the Filipino 'y'. So, for males (or single females), it would be [given name][paternal family name][maternal family name]. For married females, it would be [given name][paternal family name][maternal family name]de[husband's family name]. For widows, it would be [given name][paternal family name][maternal family name]vda.de[husband's family name]</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">An advertisement for the </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pérez Samanillo Building featured in a pre-war magazine called </span><i style="font-size: small;">Excelsior</i><span style="font-size: x-small;">. Another advertisement of the same layout was published, but in Spanish. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/t1.0-9/1170700_10201576140473732_1675630171_n.jpg">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The building was one of the most modern in its time, owing to the building's glass façade. As a family-owned property, the building housed the offices of the </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Pérez Samanillo business operations in the Philippines, which was operated by Don Luis </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Pérez Samanillo's son Luis </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Pérez </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">de Olaguer-Feliú. Another interesting tenant of the </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Pérez Samanillo Building was Berg's, a pre-war department store and one of the city's largest. One can find imported toys, lastest fashion trends at Berg's. Berg's was located on the south-east of the building, facing Estero de la Reina and Plaza Goiti. Also, the Spanish Consulate in Manila had its offices in the building.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">The liberation of the city in 1945 obliterated most of downtown Manila's buildings. Luckily, the twin Luna masterpieces, the Regina Building and the </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Pérez Samanillo Building were spared from further destruction and only suffered minor damages. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">The twin Luna masterpieces, the Regina (left) and the </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Pérez Samanillo Building (right) </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">suffered minor damages after the Battle of Manila in 1945. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i330/raphaelmempin/Old%20Philippines/7247834180_c5ec4d432f_b.jpg">Ⓒ Photobucket/raphaelmempin</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">As the post-war years came, business and commerce were again flourishing in the Escolta area. Berg's Department Store was reopened and continued its operations. The </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Pérez Samanillo was rebuilt but with less embellishments. The ornaments on its top floor were removed to make way for the construction of a sixth level.</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Berg's Department Store during the 1950s. </span><a href="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5547/12026073793_10efa9cde0_b.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ Flickr/John Tewell</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Berg's Department Store on the ground floor of the Pérez Samanillo Building. Photo taken sometime in the 1950s. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1.0-9/969319_10202155400434869_1742375248_n.jpg">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Today, the </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Pérez Samanillo Building is now renamed as the First United Building after it was purchased by the Sylianteng family, the same family who bought the Regina Building across the street. The building is also where art collab organization called 98B holds their Saturday Market Fairs. Also, a couple years ago, an initiative called '<i>Hola Escolta</i>' was launched to help promote the Escolta as a tourist destination.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">The </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pérez Samanillo's ornate staircase. </span><a href="https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t1.0-9/1395437_10202155554278715_1395186928_n.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We at A.M. fully support the initiatives done by all sectors of society in reviving the historic Escolta. Any rehabilitation and resurrection of the Escolta will be gladly supported by our team at A.M.. We just hope that the rehabilitation of the Escolta would not make use of demolition as a tool of 'development' and modernization, but rather make use of existing structures to preserve the glorious architecture that the city is proud to have.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">The </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pérez Samanillo Building in the present time. </span><a href="https://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1.0-9/1520810_716945521690123_1779469972_n.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ Mole In The Foot via Arquitectura Manila Photo File</span></a></span></div>
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Paulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972040438656379457.post-56146220852737361842014-03-27T04:13:00.000+08:002014-04-07T04:16:03.377+08:00Calvo Building<br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The beautiful beaux-arts Calvo Building along the Escolta. </span><a href="https://scontent-a-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t1.0-9/558750_713714558679886_2044124757_n.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Arquitectura Manila Photo File</span></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The old business districts of Binondo and Sta. Cruz always remind us that all structures that once stood on its streets were designed in a way that is aesthetically pleasing to the eyes of pedestrians. Of the two districts that boasted its buildings, the Escolta in Binondo definitely gets the upper hand. The five-block long narrow street was once hailed as the 'Fifth Avenue' and the 'Wall Street' of the country as it played an important role in shaping the country's economic, social, and cultural aspects. Because the Escolta gained popularity among Filipinos and foreigners alike, it hosted some of the city's (and the country's) best structures designed by Filipino architecture masters such as Luna de San Pedro, Arellano, Antonio, Ocampo, Argüelles, and more.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Along the stretch of the Escolta, there is a building partially-hidden because of her neighbors' sheer size, waiting to be discovered. It is the Calvo Building. The Calvo Building was a three-(now four) storey building on the corner of Escolta and Calle Soda. Built in 1938 in the beaux-arts style by Fernando H. Ocampo, and his partner Tomás </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Argüelles,</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> the Calvo was owned by real estate businesswoman Doña Emiliana Mortera vda. de Calvo. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Architects </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;">Tomás </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Argüelles (left), and Fernando H. Ocampo (right) </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.reocities.com/balen_net/biographies.htm">© Kapampangan Biographical Dictionary</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Calvo is located along the magnificent Escolta, facing her neighbors the Crystal Arcade, Capitol Theater, and the Brias Roxas Building. At a cost of P300,000.00, the construction materials used by the Calvo Building were supplied by well-known establishments such as steel bars supplied by the Republic Steel Corporation, where it was represented in the Philippines by Atlas Trade Development Corporation; cement was supplied by Rizal Cement owned by Madrigal y Cía of the late Senator Vicente Madrigal López, and doors supplied by Gonzalo Puyat & Sons. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">A newspaper special article on the opening of the Calvo Building in 1938. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-b-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1.0-9/1176411_421112171342235_396382832_n.jpg">© 98B</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">After its opening, some of the country's leading institutions set up their offices in the building. The Philippine Bank of Commerce had its offices on the ground floor, the law offices of Aquino and Lichauco attorneys-at-law occupying half of the second floor, and the offices of Araneta and Company on the third floor.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Calvo also housed Luisa's, a pre-war soda fountain house and a favorite among Manila's <i>alta sociedad</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Calvo Building during the pre-war years. </span><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1.0-9/1654378_10202825504227045_1056385756_n.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Calvo Building (third from right), viewed from the other side of the Pasig River. Other edifices such as the old Insular Life Building and the Filipinas Building can also be seen on the photo. </span><a href="https://scontent-b-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t1.0-9/156348_10200708545930629_1673114694_n.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Manila Nostalgia/John Tewell via Lou Gopal</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The post-war years saw the rebirth of a new and modern Escolta. Calvo's neighbors such as the Crystal Arcade, Brias Roxas, and Lyric are now gone and replaced by modern structures such as the Philippine National Bank Building. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Calvo Building became the home of American journalist Robert 'Uncle Bob' Stewart's Republic Broadcasting Service, forerunner to DZBB, where it held its first broadcast. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EQKwCjWKsFs/UzRwzdXyRWI/AAAAAAAAAiY/ZXDFpl5B4Nw/s1600/8672435196_4291d0a301_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EQKwCjWKsFs/UzRwzdXyRWI/AAAAAAAAAiY/ZXDFpl5B4Nw/s1600/8672435196_4291d0a301_b.jpg" height="285" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Detailed mascarons of the Calvo Building drawn in ink. </span><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8115/8672435196_4291d0a301_b.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Flickr/strangero19</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Today, the Calvo Building now hosts to the Escolta Museum and the offices of the Escolta Commercial Association. The association, which composed of owners whose businesses are located at the Escolta, seeks to rehabilitate the area and revitalize it as a tourist area. The Escolta Museum is located on the second floor of the building where one can see the street's colorful history through photographs and other memorabilia. Also, the museum carries a scale model diorama of the Escolta and other adjacent areas. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qFAt5pwYhIc/UzRwX-cHKpI/AAAAAAAAAiQ/dEMfQSTqHgU/s1600/1IMG_7995.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qFAt5pwYhIc/UzRwX-cHKpI/AAAAAAAAAiQ/dEMfQSTqHgU/s1600/1IMG_7995.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The interior of the Escolta Museum lined with scale model buildings. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1STjIeM8uKc/URG9lHRcEEI/AAAAAAAAENE/C8sbjn9nZMg/s1600/1IMG_7995.JPG">© Fitzgrace Manila</a></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1gGufEncyPo/UzRxefwjQ0I/AAAAAAAAAik/jnB1ncZfnLo/s1600/Escolta+Building+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1gGufEncyPo/UzRxefwjQ0I/AAAAAAAAAik/jnB1ncZfnLo/s1600/Escolta+Building+01.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Detailed shot of the Calvo Building. </span><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-XnMIAdrKngs/USWpKPle8XI/AAAAAAAAX6Y/ldCu4Ffidrw/w552-h414-no/Escolta+Building+01"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© David Montasco</span></a></span></div>
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Paulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972040438656379457.post-9459990506952077652014-03-22T09:41:00.000+08:002014-04-07T04:11:55.393+08:00Natividad Building<br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The ever-beautiful beaux-arts Natividad Building along the Escolta. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://rodrigodeguzman.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/dsc_0103.jpg?w=614&h=408" target="_blank">Ⓒ rodrigodeguzman.wordpress.com</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Escolta was long been known as the country's equivalent of New York's Fifth Avenue and Wall Street combined, as it hosted numerous office buildings, shops and department stores, banks, theaters, and restaurants. Buildings that were erected on this famous strip were designed by illustrious architects such as Luna de San Pedro, Argüelles, Nakpil, Ocampo, and Antonio. One building along the famous five block thoroughfare boasts itself as one of the most simple yet elegant pieces of architecture built -- the Natividad Building.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Natividad Building, built in the beaux-arts style of architecture, was designed by Philippine-born Spanish architect Fernando de la Cantera Blondeau. His other famous work was the old Insular Life Building on the foot of Jones Bridge between Plaza Moraga and Plaza Cervantes. The Natividad is located along the Escolta corner Calle Tomás Pinpin, and</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> is one of only two who sport beaux-arts architecture along the Escolta, the other being the Calvo Building a few meters away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oRq4t-P3B1g/UyzULOUDajI/AAAAAAAAAP8/JtlmRtSE3Q0/s1600/3665325790_2d77d949f5_m.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oRq4t-P3B1g/UyzULOUDajI/AAAAAAAAAP8/JtlmRtSE3Q0/s1600/3665325790_2d77d949f5_m.jpg" height="320" width="193" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Arch. Fernando de la Cantera Blondeau, architect of the Natividad Building. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3578/3665325790_2d77d949f5_m.jpg" target="_blank">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Paquito dela Cruz</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Before the building was named Natividad, it was the Philippine Education Company Building during the pre-war years. Its lower floors were rented out and became the stores of Hamilton Brown Shoe Store and H. Alonso Boutique, which carries the famous Florsheim Shoes. Hamilton Brown was a famous pre-war boutique shoe store catering to menswear, ladies wear, and tailoring services. The upper floors was where the Philippine Education Company used to be. The Philippine Education Company Inc., or PECO, was a pre-war bookstore which sold books, magazines, fine stationary, and novelty items.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0PPn6YzBAOg/UyzZyKO07RI/AAAAAAAAAQI/O2Z55QjNmnw/s1600/1976886_10151927293572213_2036109548_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0PPn6YzBAOg/UyzZyKO07RI/AAAAAAAAAQI/O2Z55QjNmnw/s1600/1976886_10151927293572213_2036109548_n.jpg" height="364" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The then-Philippine Education Company (PECO)/Hamilton Brown Building at the corner of the Escolta and Calle Tomás Pinpin during the 1930s. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t1.0-9/1976886_10151927293572213_2036109548_n.jpg" target="_blank">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/John Tewell via John Harper</a></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-si7zXa4thiU/UyzccolK-NI/AAAAAAAAAQU/fmxYFVU2Js4/s1600/1958007_1415737882014224_199747695_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-si7zXa4thiU/UyzccolK-NI/AAAAAAAAAQU/fmxYFVU2Js4/s1600/1958007_1415737882014224_199747695_n.jpg" height="640" width="356" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Another photo of the Philippine Education Company/Hamilton Brown Building at the same point-of-view, which was taken during the 1930s. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.lougopal.com/manila/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Escolta-1935-575x1024.jpeg" target="_blank">Ⓒ Lougopal.com/Manila Nostalgia</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The battle for Manila in 1945 had destroyed more than eighty percent of the city's infrastructure. Luckily, the PECO/Hamilton Brown Building was not razed to the ground, but only suffered minor reparable injuries. </span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FaxAH_O-3Ao/UyzegfGmkrI/AAAAAAAAAQg/3SfQ6VzsItw/s1600/1781988_10151878471862213_593280341_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FaxAH_O-3Ao/UyzegfGmkrI/AAAAAAAAAQg/3SfQ6VzsItw/s1600/1781988_10151878471862213_593280341_n.jpg" height="409" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The PECO/Hamilton Brown Building (third from the left) suffered minor injuries during the bloodbath Battle of Manila in 1945. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1.0-9/1781988_10151878471862213_593280341_n.jpg" target="_blank">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/John Harper</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The post-war years saw the closing of the building's anchor tenants, the Hamilton Brown Shoe Store and the Philippine Education Company Bookstore. Because of this, the building was vacant and was bought by Pampangueño millionaire Don José Leoncio de León, the man whose family also bought the Regina Building from the de Ayala-Roxas family back in 1934. Don </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">José renamed the building <i>Natividad</i>, in honor of his second wife, </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Natividad Joven Gutiérrez de </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">León, sister of his first wife Regina. During the family's ownership of the building, it became the offices of the Insurance Commission, an agency of the government which oversees the insurance industry in the country.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VcKRnEhanKA/Uyzl76uQ7WI/AAAAAAAAAQw/MoKS9TbIOlM/s1600/IMG_8179.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VcKRnEhanKA/Uyzl76uQ7WI/AAAAAAAAAQw/MoKS9TbIOlM/s1600/IMG_8179.JPG" height="424" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The trees add to the Natividad's Parisian vibe. The building and the whole of Escolta would be great if it were turned into a boutique hotel or maybe a standalone Louis Vuitton boutique. </span><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oBTzcJuKvyM/USmlfJi5tHI/AAAAAAAAA_M/WiV3vU189P8/s640/IMG_8179.JPG" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ The Filipinas</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Today, the Natividad Building is still standing proud along the Escolta, as it is one of the remaining edifices that are still in use. A tourist, or even a local, would feel a Parisian vibe in the area because of the presence of the Natividad. With its beaux-arts architecture and pastel-colored façade, it is definitely one of the city's beautiful structures. Though the Natividad is not as ornate as its neighbors along the Escolta, it really gives a character in how life was during its nearly one hundred years in existence.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Here at A.M., heritage conservation matters. Because the Manila city government had announced its plans earlier this year that it plans to rehabilitate the Escolta-Binondo area, we at A.M. would like to express its all-out support for this plan. In our opinion, we would want the Escolta to regain its former glory, on a modern perspective. To realize this, we would like to suggest that the historical buildings be preserved and turned into something useful and create revenue, such as a boutique hotel, al-fresco dining spaces, or who knows, maybe the Metro's first standalone Louis Vuitton, Prada, or Hermes boutique. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EKkcbpd2w4M/UyzmBHV3kcI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/Mf02kDen3RE/s1600/Esc26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EKkcbpd2w4M/UyzmBHV3kcI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/Mf02kDen3RE/s1600/Esc26.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This angle of the Natividad really gives off its Parisian vibe. If the rehabilitation of the Escolta pushes through, it would be beautiful if coffee shops and al-fresco dining spaces adorn its lower floors. </span><a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_-7nAsSucICg/R5x-bblxGJI/AAAAAAAACKY/_fMjBbSTfUQ/s400/Esc26.jpg" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ Superpasyal.blogspot.com</span></a></span></div>
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Paulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972040438656379457.post-43808224904546892562014-03-18T05:35:00.002+08:002014-04-07T04:10:02.015+08:00Regina Building<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ekouZlbVNVE/UzRUDG6Pc5I/AAAAAAAAAf4/YWp0PV1a1ik/s1600/12576990473_41662ae77a_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ekouZlbVNVE/UzRUDG6Pc5I/AAAAAAAAAf4/YWp0PV1a1ik/s1600/12576990473_41662ae77a_b.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Regina Building along the Escolta, c. 2014. </span><a href="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7334/12576990473_41662ae77a_b.jpg" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ Flickr/mrbinondo</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We all know that the pre-war City of Manila was considered as the best city in the Far East, at par with those in Europe and in the Americas. Visitors who came into the city were amazed on what the city has to offer. In fact, when the Japanese paraded their troops in Manila, they were envious that Manila was way more beautiful than their own Tokyo. We owe our gratitude not only to the people who worked hard to make the Pearl of the Orient Seas one of the best, but we also have to recognize the structures that made our city unique. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The pre-war business districts of Binondo and Sta. Cruz boast a number of beautiful office buildings. One of these buildings is the famed Regina Building along the famed Escolta. </span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1gI_XuDGRss/UzRUMRl0FnI/AAAAAAAAAgA/hZujZiPKGwY/s1600/1609604_10202819168108646_531647373_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1gI_XuDGRss/UzRUMRl0FnI/AAAAAAAAAgA/hZujZiPKGwY/s1600/1609604_10202819168108646_531647373_n.jpg" height="400" width="346" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The predecessor of the Regina Building, the old Edificio Roxas on the corner of the Escolta and Calle Banquero facing Plaza Sta. Cruz. Photo taken sometime in 1905. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-a-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t1.0-9/1609604_10202819168108646_531647373_n.jpg" target="_blank">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Before the present Regina Building was built, another building stood on its location. The old Roxas Building was located opposite the Pérez-Samanillo Building, occupying a block from Calle David (now Burke St.) to Calle Banquero. The building had two wings, with the concrete building facing Calle David and the Pasig</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> which was occupied by the offices of the Roxas y Cía, and Pedro P. Roxas y Cía. The other wing faces the Estero de la Reina and Plaza Sta. Cruz which a quaint coffee shop called Victoria Café occupies. The owners of the old Roxas Building were the de Ayala-Roxas family, specifically Doña Carmen de Ayala Roxas de Roxas, widow of rich man-nationalist Don Pedro Pablo Roxas Castro. </span></div>
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<i style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Note: Names are written in standard Spanish naming custom. Spanish names are written without the Filipino 'y'. So, for males (or single females), it would be [given name][paternal family name][maternal family name]. For married females, it would be [given name][paternal family name][maternal family name]de[husband's family name]. For widows, it would be [given name][paternal family name][maternal family name]vda.de[husband's family name].</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pre-war map of the Escolta-Binondo business district. The concrete Roxas Building is on the top right hand side (24), while the old building is the letter 'L'. </span><a href="https://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t1.0-9/1920200_10151927270212213_1172406925_n.jpg" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Lou Gopal via John Harper</span></a></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QBEsbbZ7dRk/UzRUX8yv3xI/AAAAAAAAAgI/HXplif4-TI8/s1600/CarmenRoxas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QBEsbbZ7dRk/UzRUX8yv3xI/AAAAAAAAAgI/HXplif4-TI8/s1600/CarmenRoxas.jpg" height="320" width="226" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Da. Carmen de Ayala Roxas vda. de Pedro P. Roxas Castro, heiress to the Roxas-de Ayala fortune and owner of the old Roxas Building. </span><a href="http://ayala.com.ph/ayalaat175mag/images/CarmenRoxas.jpg" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ Ayala Corporation</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The de Ayala-Roxas matriarch and heiress Doña Carmen de Ayala Roxas de Roxas died in 1930. As a result, the Roxas family sold the property to Don Jos</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">é </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Leoncio de León, a prominent industrialist from Pampanga. The old structure facing the estero was demolished and was replaced by a concrete building.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1wYzW9Ybzl8/UzRUgjU7ZqI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/6z08yN2sLOg/s1600/1391838_10201368463788163_215199364_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1wYzW9Ybzl8/UzRUgjU7ZqI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/6z08yN2sLOg/s1600/1391838_10201368463788163_215199364_n.jpg" height="430" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The old and new Roxas Buildings (left) in the 1920s. The old </span><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">bahay na bato</span></i><i style="font-size: small;"> </i><span style="font-size: x-small;">building has been renovated (the previous photo shows that the house had a third storey). The newer building facing Calle David can be seen at the back of the old building. </span><a href="https://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t1.0-9/1391838_10201368463788163_215199364_n.jpg" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Lou Gopal</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">The Regina and the </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pérez-Samanillo Buildings act as the entrance to the Escolta from Plaza Sta. Cruz. </span><a href="http://imageshack.us/a/img822/919/khub.jpg" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ The Philippine Star</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The building was designed by two architects, Fernando H. Ocampo, and the great Andrés Luna de San Pedro. Ocampo was credited in designing and renovating the existing concrete building while Luna was the one who designed the new building facing the estero and Plaza Sta. Cruz. One of the tenants of the building was Pacific Motors, dealer of General Motors vehicles in Manila.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--7mtqiRFCts/UzRUwwCYm5I/AAAAAAAAAgg/i0wYRfTJg7A/s1600/getLarge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--7mtqiRFCts/UzRUwwCYm5I/AAAAAAAAAgg/i0wYRfTJg7A/s1600/getLarge.jpg" height="464" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pacific Motors dealership at the Regina Building facing the Pasig along Muelle del Banco Nacional. </span><a href="http://depot.library.wisc.edu/repository/fedora/1711.dl:J2IQOMV2NMAGO83/methods/1711.dl:SDefineImageWithDefaultRes/getLarge" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries</span></a></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qeilaUWLbKI/UzRU6ugsYYI/AAAAAAAAAgo/ub47RqL8bfI/s1600/1510763_10202956251735651_2087840071_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qeilaUWLbKI/UzRU6ugsYYI/AAAAAAAAAgo/ub47RqL8bfI/s1600/1510763_10202956251735651_2087840071_n.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The before and after photos of the renovation of the Roxas Building. </span><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1.0-9/1510763_10202956251735651_2087840071_n.jpg" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ Arkitekturang Filipino via Isidra Reyes</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In 1934, the new building was completed. Designed in a mixed neo-classical and beaux-arts styles by </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Andrés Luna de San Pedro.</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> The new building annexed the old building facing the Pasig. The building was renamed as the Regina, in honor of Jos</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">é Leoncio de Le</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">ón's wife, heiress Regina Joven Gutiérrez Hizon de </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Le</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">ón. </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The building became the offices of the de </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Le</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">ón businesses of Pampanga Sugar Development Co. (PASUDECO) and National Life Insurance Co.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The war in 1945 brought destruction to the city. The block-by-block, street-by-street, building-by-building, and room-by-room fighting lost more than 80 percent of the city's structures, with the Escolta-Binondo business area inflicting the most damage. Unfortunately, the Regina was not spared in the battle. However, it only had minor damages and was repaired afterwards.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pwqzDwlBoQg/UzRVD9G9BdI/AAAAAAAAAgw/NvJYVzGrdcE/s1600/7247834180_c5ec4d432f_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pwqzDwlBoQg/UzRVD9G9BdI/AAAAAAAAAgw/NvJYVzGrdcE/s1600/7247834180_c5ec4d432f_b.jpg" height="494" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Regina Building (left), and the Pérez-Samanillo Building (right) partially damaged during the Liberation of Manila in 1945. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i330/raphaelmempin/Old%20Philippines/7247834180_c5ec4d432f_b.jpg" target="_blank">Ⓒ Photobucket</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The post-war years saw a new era for the Regina Building. Most of the de León businesses were housed in the Regina and its sister property, the Natividad Building. Today, the building is still owned by the heirs of Don José Leoncio de León of the PASUDECO wealth</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IheU24f1eSM/UzRVWMvQ1tI/AAAAAAAAAg4/zXY431qS5Kc/s1600/escolta-from-stacruz-plaza-1954.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IheU24f1eSM/UzRVWMvQ1tI/AAAAAAAAAg4/zXY431qS5Kc/s1600/escolta-from-stacruz-plaza-1954.jpg" height="640" width="510" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">The Regina Building during the 1950s. </span><a href="http://www.lougopal.com/manila/wp-content/gallery/escolta/escolta-from-stacruz-plaza-1954.jpg" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ Lougopal.com/Manila Nostalgia</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">An express of interest over Escolta's rehabilitation as a tourist spot was raised after the victory of incumbent mayor of Manila Joseph Estrada. Also, a tour entitled #VivaManila was conceived by celebrity tour guide/activist Carlos Celdran. He aims to restore the former glory of Manila's historic districts, which includes the Escolta-Binondo business area. We at A.M. fully support the plans of the city government of Manila in restoring of not only of the Escolta, but the rehabilitation of the city as a whole.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">The Regina Building in 2006. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://static.flickr.com/77/199550218_bc8162a416.jpg?v=0" target="_blank">Ⓒ Heritage Conservation Society</a></span></div>
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Paulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972040438656379457.post-22208172497357128352014-03-15T04:43:00.000+08:002014-04-07T04:08:36.594+08:00A.M. Shorts: E.A. Perkins Residence<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4TomndPNx0I/UzRPrmysTAI/AAAAAAAAAe8/R_EIWEQEYss/s1600/1426708_10201362438597537_948438423_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4TomndPNx0I/UzRPrmysTAI/AAAAAAAAAe8/R_EIWEQEYss/s1600/1426708_10201362438597537_948438423_n.jpg" height="322" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> '</span><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">El Nido</span></i><span style="font-size: x-small;">', the Eugene Arthur Perkins residence along Dewey Boulevard in Ermita. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1/1426708_10201362438597537_948438423_n.jpg" target="_blank">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Lou Gopal</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In pre-war Manila, houses of illustrious families were designed by well-known architects according to their elegant tastes. Their homes were either designed in the renaissance, art-deco, beaux-arts, or the traditional Filipino <i>bahay na bato</i> style. But one house stood out among the rest, and this was the <i>El Nido</i>, the residence of Eugene Arthur 'E.A.' Perkins, and his wife Idonah Slade. The house and the family became the center of intrigue among Manila's high society because of domestic quarrels between Eugene and Idonah.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The owner of the house, E.A. Perkins, was the first American envoy to the Royal Court of Siam (Thailand's counterpart of the Royal Court of St. James). Born in Bangkok in 1888, he went to Manila and became a partner of the law firm DeWitt, Perkins, and Brady. In 1935, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile's father Alfonso Ponce Enrile joined the firm and was renamed DeWitt, Perkins, Brady, and Ponce Enrile. Their law firm was located in Edificio Soriano (formerly as the Geronimo de los Reyes Building) in Plaza Cervantes. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sWml7rqJxFA/UzRP1I2FnBI/AAAAAAAAAfE/l5_Ggfqof9A/s1600/Perkins-E.A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sWml7rqJxFA/UzRP1I2FnBI/AAAAAAAAAfE/l5_Ggfqof9A/s1600/Perkins-E.A.jpg" height="296" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">E.A. Perkins (right), checking the shipment of Lepanto gold with Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank manager W. Webster (right) in 1949. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.lougopal.com/manila/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Perkins-E.A.jpg" target="_blank">Ⓒ Lougopal.com/Manila Nostalgia</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Perkins residence was designed by the great Andrés Luna de San Pedro in the Moorish Mediterranean style. The house, which faces the Manila Bay, was located in the residential section of Ermita, where homes of prominent Filipino and expatriate families once stood. As their home stood out among the rest, it won the title of <i>The </i>'<i>Most Beautiful Home of 1928</i>', a year before the </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">Zóbels won theirs a year later.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Dewey Boulevard and its environs in the 1920s. the </span><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">El Nido</span></i><span style="font-size: x-small;"> was located at the corner of Dewey Boulevard and Calle Divisoria (now Salas St.). </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.lougopal.com/manila/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Dewey-Blvd-1920-labeled.jpg" target="_blank">Ⓒ Lougopal.com/Manila Nostalgia</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">The penthouse living room of the Perkins residence in Ermita. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/t1.0-9/1233556_10201822317988016_799526357_n.jpg" target="_blank">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">One of the rooms inside the </span><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">El Nido</span></i><span style="font-size: x-small;">. </span><a href="https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1.0-9/1238098_10201822317908014_1300889645_n.jpg" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">When the Philippines became a commonwealth in 1935, the American governor-general had moved out of Malacañang Palace and was replaced by a High Commissioner (an equivalent of an ambassador). The High Commissioner was in need of his own residence. So, in 1937 when the newly-appointed High Commissioner Paul V. McNutt arrived in Manila, Attorney E.A. Perkins offered his <i>El Nido</i> to be McNutt's home until a permanent residence for the High Commissioner is finished. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">President Manuel L. Quezón (left) enjoying cigarettes with American High Commissioner Paul V. McNutt (right). </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.jweekly.com/images/uploads/v_photos_2013/zk4_5_13/Jphilippines_mc_nutt_normal.jpg" target="_blank">Ⓒ Jweekly.com</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">In the 1950s, shortly before E.A. Perkins died, he sold his property. The new owner had the <i>El Nido </i>demolished and was replaced by an apartment known as the L&S Building, which was designed by Alfredo Luz. </span></span></div>
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Paulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972040438656379457.post-52114454712923121082014-03-10T03:49:00.000+08:002014-05-04T22:03:38.274+08:00A.M. Shorts: Jacobo Zóbel and Ángela Olgado Residence<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BotxgRtVhyM/UzRN0iD43jI/AAAAAAAAAeg/v-cvV13YIT8/s1600/1492408_10202578493811939_948602568_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BotxgRtVhyM/UzRN0iD43jI/AAAAAAAAAeg/v-cvV13YIT8/s1600/1492408_10202578493811939_948602568_o.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">'<i>La Casona</i>', Jacobo and </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> Ángela</span></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Zóbel's residence in Ermita. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202578493811939&set=gm.568792969866364&type=1&theater" target="_blank">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The pre-war years showed elegant tastes in living the high life, that is, because, due to the growing <i>alta sociedad</i> of the country. Long before the five-star hotels mushroomed throughout the city of Manila, events are held at home. Because homes are to be well-maintained and designed, as it is to '<i>dress to impress</i>', Philippine socialites' homes are at par of those homes overseas, such as those in Beverly Hills and Bel-Air in Los Angeles. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">One home stood out in the then-residential section of Ermita, the home of Don Jacobo Zóbel de Ayala </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">and his wife, the beautiful Ángela Olgado, called '<i>La Casona</i>'. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Don Jacobo </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Zóbel de Ayala Roxas is the eldest son of pre-war industrialist and philanthropist Don Enrique </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Zóbel y de Ayala from his first wife, Consuelo Roxas de Ayala de Zóbel. Don Jacobo is also the father of the late Don Enrique 'EZ' </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Zóbel Olgado, former Ayala Corporation chairman. Don Jacobo's wife, </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Doña </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Ángela Olgado Calvo de </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Zóbel was considered as one of the most beautiful women in the pre-war years. The Olgado clan has been in the Philippines for quite a while, marrying other Spanish-Filipino families such as Doña Ángela Olgado's sister Doña Pilar Olgado Calvo de Roxas, wife of former Casino Español de Manila president Don Eduardo Roxas Gargollo and mother of present Roxas & Company CEO Pedro Emilio Roxas Olgado.</span><br />
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<i style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Note: Names are written in standard Spanish naming custom. Spanish names are written without the Filipino 'y'. So, for males (or single females), it would be [given name][paternal family name][maternal family name]. For married females, it would be [given name][paternal family name][maternal family name]de[husband's family name]. For widows, it would be [given name][paternal family name][maternal family name]vda.de[husband's family name].</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0Sxei6fjz8Y/UzROdNMQDhI/AAAAAAAAAeo/lhw2KVSxKrg/s1600/jacobo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0Sxei6fjz8Y/UzROdNMQDhI/AAAAAAAAAeo/lhw2KVSxKrg/s1600/jacobo.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uQ793R1b7qE/UzROozLhIII/AAAAAAAAAew/qeRmKw8M7kU/s1600/1525150_10202724128532716_438028587_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uQ793R1b7qE/UzROozLhIII/AAAAAAAAAew/qeRmKw8M7kU/s1600/1525150_10202724128532716_438028587_n.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">TWO POWERHOUSES: Col. Jacobo </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Zóbel de Ayala Roxas (left), and his wife </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Doña</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;">Ángela Olgado Calvo de </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Zóbel (right). </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202724128532716&set=gm.579002555512072&type=1&theater" target="_blank">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The house was located in the residential area of Ermita, though some sources, such as the Cornejo's Commonwealth Directory of the Philippines, states that Don Jacobo's home address is at Calle M.H. del Pilar in Malate. Moving on, the home was designed by </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Andrés Luna de San Pedro, who also designed his brother Alfonso's <a href="http://arquitecturamanila.blogspot.ca/2014/03/am-shorts-alfonso-zobel-and-carmen.html" target="_blank">mansion</a> along Dewey Boulevard.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">One of the interesting features of the house is the use of awnings. Since the Philippines is a tropical country where it is hot and humid most of the year, it was a smart move to use striped awnings. Because of Doña Angelita's very elegant taste in design, their house was entitled as the '</span><i style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Most Beautiful Home of 1929</i><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">'.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Combat for the liberation of the city took place in 1945, which virtually wiped out 80 percent of the city's edifices. The war took a toll on the Zóbel de Ayala family as they were with no cash, though the family still has some assets under their control. To compensate what they have lost, the Zóbels sold their homes, which included the La Casona. The house of Col. Jake and Doña Ángelita was used as the British Embassy after the war. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-HzOHgxLvQl8/U2ZHC0anY5I/AAAAAAAAAwg/bba3JlxCxb0/s640/blogger-image--395095978.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="427" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-HzOHgxLvQl8/U2ZHC0anY5I/AAAAAAAAAwg/bba3JlxCxb0/s640/blogger-image--395095978.jpg" width="640" /></a></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">The </span><i style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">La Casona</span></i><i style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: small;">, </i><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">probably taken after the war. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1.0-9/10252120_10203500510861789_7224232538675920110_n.jpg">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Sadly, the house has already been demolished, and we at A.M. hope that elegant pre-war houses should be under protection of the NCCA and NHCP. </span></div>
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Paulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972040438656379457.post-89728509639414516282014-03-09T04:52:00.000+08:002014-04-11T07:47:43.128+08:00A.M. Shorts: Alfonso Zóbel and Carmen Pfitz Residence<br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Alfonso Zóbel and Carmen Pfitz de Zóbel residence along Dewey Boulevard (now Roxas Boulevard) cor. Calle Padre Faura in Ermita. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202769126497637&set=gm.582634518482209&type=1&theater" target="_blank">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The pre-war years was considered the golden age of Philippine social scene, before its rebirth in the 1950s to the 1960s, that is because most of Manila's <i>alta sociedad</i> actively participated in social activities such as dance, polo matches, parties, and more. The pre-war <i>alta sociedad </i>composed mostly of Filipino families that are of European descent, families such as the Zóbel de Ayalas, Roxases, Elizaldes, Nietos topped the social scene with their elegant tastes in clothing and houses.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jAMSjoyPBs8/UzRRkZaHzQI/AAAAAAAAAfs/LIKfiofuGn4/s1600/1794781_10201647498522281_1861412530_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jAMSjoyPBs8/UzRRkZaHzQI/AAAAAAAAAfs/LIKfiofuGn4/s1600/1794781_10201647498522281_1861412530_n.jpg" height="298" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">The Alfonso </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Zóbel house featured in Andr</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">é de la Varre's travelogue entitled </span><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Manila: Queen of the Pacific</span></i><i style="font-size: small;"> </i><a href="https://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1.0-9/1794781_10201647498522281_1861412530_n.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Paulo Rubio</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Alfonso Zóbel de Ayala Roxas is the son of famous pre-war industrialist and philanthropist Don Enrique Zóbel y de Ayala, and father of former Ayala Corporation chairman Jaime Zóbel de Ayala. Carmen Pfitz Herrero, on the other hand, is a member of the Pfitz clan of Spain and the Philippines. Her brother, Enrique Pfitz Herrero, became a member of the Ortigas family, marrying Doña María Luisa Ortigas de Ynchausti de Pfitz. Together with his wife, Carmen, the couple had built a grand mansion for their family. </span><br />
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<i style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Note: Names are written in standard Spanish naming custom. Spanish names are written without the Filipino 'y'. So, for males (or single females), it would be [given name][paternal family name][maternal family name]. For married females, it would be [given name][paternal family name][maternal family name]de[husband's family name]. For widows, it would be [given name][paternal family name][maternal family name]vda.de[husband's family name].</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Don</span> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Alfonso </span></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Zóbel de Ayala (left), with his son Jaime Zóbel de Ayala. Photo probably taken sometime in the 1950s. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201427977354389&set=o.492789477466714&type=3&theater" target="_blank">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Paulo Rubio</a></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">The Zóbel de Ayala family portrait. From L-R standing: Da. Matilde Zóbel de Ayala de Albarracín Segura, D. Jacobo Zóbel de Ayala Roxas, D. Alfonso Zóbel de Ayala Roxas, Da. Carmen Pfitz Herrero de Zóbel de Ayala. L-R seated: Da. Angela Olgado Calvo de Zóbel de Ayala, Da. Fermina Montojo Torróntegui de Zóbel de Ayala, Da. Consuelo Zóbel de Ayala Montojo de Alger, Da. Gloria Zóbel de Ayala Montojo de Padilla, D. Enrique Zóbel de Ayala Olgado, Da. Maria Victoria Zóbel de Ayala Pfitz de Vallejo-Nájera, D. Enrique </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Zóbel y de Ayala (patriarch), D. Fernando </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">Zóbel de Ayala Montojo, D. Joseph R. McMicking, Da. Mercedes </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Zóbel de Ayala Roxas de McMicking. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3063/2799780855_af7dacc590_o.jpg" target="_blank">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Paquito dela Cruz</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The house, located along the scenic Dewey Boulevard corner Calle P. Faura in residential Ermita, was designed by the great </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Andrés Luna de San Pedro, son of the great painter-nationalist Juan Luna. The house had been designed in the French Renaissance style, which was the prevalent design of the houses of Manila's elite. The house had survived the devastating Battle of Manila in 1945, and after the war, Don Alfonso sold the house to compensate what they had lost during the war years. Their house became the offices of the French Embassy in Manila when the </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;">Zóbels moved to their new home in suburban Makati. The French Embassy soon vacated the house and moved to another location. Subsequently, the house became the branch of the Bank of Asia for a period of time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">After the Bank of Asia vacated the mansion, art galleries were transferred to the mansion due to the renovation of the adjacent Tesoro's. </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202570079121577&set=gm.568300216582306&type=1&theater" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Bank of Asia had vacated the mansion and art galleries from nearby Tesoro's occupied the property due to the renovation of the latter. Sadly, this mansion was not spared from the destruction of the wrecking ball. We at AM assume that the Zóbels had disposed of the property before it was demolished. The 1322 Golden Empire Tower now stands on this property. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Alfonso Zóbel mansion along Roxas Boulevard, probably taken sometime in the 1990s. </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201196349443836&set=p.10201196349443836&type=1&theater" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Paulo Rubio</span></a></span></div>
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Paulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972040438656379457.post-75737458744817668372014-03-05T07:50:00.000+08:002014-04-07T04:02:58.594+08:00A.M. Shorts: Laperal Mansion/Arlegui Guest House<br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">German diplomats and expatriates enjoy festivities at the former German consulate along Calle Arlegui in San Miguel, Manila. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202091769590356&set=o.492789477466714&type=3&theater" target="_blank">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Lou Gopal</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">This may be considered as one of the most beautiful yet controversial home in Manila. The Laperal Mansion, now the Arlgeui Guest House, sits along Calle Arlegui in San Miguel, only a few blocks from Malacañang Palace, the official residence of the Philippine president.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Before World War II broke out in the Philippines in 1941, the mansion served as the consulate of Nazi Germany. Yes, you heard it right, Hitler's Nazi Germany. Other sources say that before the mansion became the German chancellery, it was known as the Blair Mansion, named after an American military officer who lived in the property.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Japanese occupation came into the islands in 1942. During their three-year occupation, the house served as the residence of Speaker of the Assembly Benigno Aquino Sr., grandfather of current president Benigno 'BS' Aquino III. There are conflicting reports about the veracity of this story. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The German Consulate in 1945 after the Battle of Manila. According to reports, all Germans inside the consulate were killed by the Japanese. </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=766382436719853&set=o.492789477466714&type=3&theater" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Meg Jmp</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: justify;">In 1945, the Battle of Manila brought destruction to the capital city. During the month-long battle, the Japanese massacred about 100,000 civilians, including the citizens of Japan's allies Germany and Italy. Reports say that all Germans who were sheltered in the consulate were massacred by the Japanese.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The German consulate in Manila, as seen in the side view. Note the two flags flying from the flagpole. The one visible is the flag of the pre-swastika Nazi Germany. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202091769510354&set=o.492789477466714&type=3&theater" target="_blank">Ⓒ Manila Nostalgia/Lou Gopal</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">After the war had ended, the house became the temporary home to the National Library. Also around this time, the Laperal family of Baguio purchased the mansion and lived in Arlegui until 1975, when the Marcos government, under the instructions of then-First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos, confiscated the property, along with other adjacent properties due to 'security reasons'. Under the Marcos government, the mansion became the office of the National Economic and Development Authority. The mansion was also expanded during this time. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1986 was the year when Pres. Ferdinand Marcos and his family were deposed as a result of the People Power Revolution. Pres. Marcos' successor, the late Pres. Corazon Aquino chose the mansion over the Malacañang. Pres. Fidel Ramos also chose to stay in Arlegui during his presidency.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Controversies hound the Laperal Mansion. Because the government illegaly confiscated the property during the Marcos presidency, there was a ruling in 2007 that the Laperals rightfully own the mansion. Although the national government recognizes the Laperals as the rightful owners of the mansion, the family no longer is interested with the property because of the traumatic experience they have encountered during the Martial Law years.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Arlegui Mansion in 2013. Note that renovations took place during the Marcos presidency as the original house only had one tower. </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Malaca%C3%B1angPalacejf2356_04.JPG" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ⓒ Wikipedia.org</span></a></span></span><br />
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Paulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972040438656379457.post-30280731973221375562013-08-15T05:26:00.000+08:002014-04-07T04:01:31.785+08:00Ramón Magsaysay Center<br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Ramon Magsaysay Center during the 80s. </span><a href="http://www.rmaf.org.ph/images/img-rm-center-small.jpg" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Ramón Magsaysay Center is an eighteen-storey edifice built in honor of Philippine President Ramón Magsaysay, who died in a plane crash in Cebu in 1957. The <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_noSuggestion GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct" ginger_sofatware_markguid="3ed2ae80-80cc-437b-9b14-bb2dd44ea14a" ginger_sofatware_uiphraseguid="0c767556-2d43-41c3-b3c6-ff44275fd79b" grcontextid="brutalist:0">brutalist</span> edifice is located at Roxas Boulevard facing the famous Manila Bay and its sunset. The center currently houses the Asian Library and the offices of the Ramón Magsaysay Award Foundation, the governing body of the Ramón Magsaysay Award, Asia's Nobel Prize.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The RM Center during the 1970s. Viewed from Roxas Boulevard. Note that the Silahis International Hotel/Grand Boulevard Hotel is in its construction progress. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2535/3711698798_64110b4b0b.jpg" target="_blank">© Flickr/rubiopr27</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Built in 1967 at the corner of Roxas Boulevard and Dr. Joaquin Y. <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_noSuggestion GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct" ginger_sofatware_markguid="dee226fd-bb1e-49e4-95f9-d37c811306d5" ginger_sofatware_uiphraseguid="1d854775-065f-4347-b5e1-b800e4ea04dd" grcontextid="Quintos:0">Quintos</span> St., the Ramon Magsaysay Center was designed by Arturo J. Luz & Associates, in consultation with Italian-American Pietro Belluschi and Alfred Yee Associates, both from the United States and pioneers in designing pre-cast and pre-stressed concrete building structures. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Ramon Magsaysay Center was the first structure in the country to sport column-free structural concept. The design used pre-cast and pre-stressed beams like a tree rooted on the ground. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.arkitektura.ph/uploads/photo/image/1699/normal_ramon_magsaysay_center.jpg" target="_blank">© Arkitekturang Filipino</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="line-height: 14.390625px;">That <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct" ginger_sofatware_markguid="1b7d2e97-75ac-4c26-be8f-0ebea8e3da0c" ginger_sofatware_uiphraseguid="55a78776-06c5-4ef5-a867-a450fede5691" grcontextid="early:0">early</span>, the building designers decided to adopt the use of a novel structural system -- the pre-cast, pre-stressed concrete beams and multiple in-place floor slabs and wall panels. The main column of the building is the cast-in-place concrete shear wall core (Moment Frame) over deep concrete piles. This structural system is resistant to lateral forces due to earthquakes or wind load. In effect, the building is designed like a big tree with the columns as its deep-rooted trunk that sways with the wind and the movement of the ground. For elegance and engineering integrity, secondary pillars were installed all covered with travertine cladding.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="line-height: 14.390625px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ramón Magsaysay Center viewed from below. </span><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9vrslXekRQw/UBf6uXSNAZI/AAAAAAAAAeQ/ayIFCVUEkaM/s640/rmcenter0708121.JPG"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© That Happy Day</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="line-height: 14.390625px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The center's pre-cast and pre-stressed concrete beams which acts like a trunk rooted on the ground. </span><a href="http://urbanroamer.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/p1130072.jpg" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Urban Roamer</span></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="line-height: 14.390625px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Center's spacious reception hall. </span><a href="http://karlanddiannesarte.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/rmagsaysay21.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Karl and Dianne Sarte</span></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="line-height: 14.390625px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A statue of President Magsaysay placed </span><span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct" ginger_sofatware_markguid="d4bc2bf0-5ffc-46a6-bc95-6ca63b2f47d3" ginger_sofatware_uiphraseguid="bed8c132-2bb6-4148-89b5-b8a1102bb9a5" grcontextid="on:0" style="font-size: x-small;">on</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> the lobby of the building. </span><a href="http://maspaborito.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/rmaf_1.jpg" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Maspaborito.com</span></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="line-height: 14.390625px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The credo of President Magsaysay. </span><a href="http://urbanroamer.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/p1130067.jpg" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Urban Roamer</span></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The exterior of the Ramón Magsaysay Center was designed to withstand the salty environment that surrounds the building. It was clad with travertine marble slabs embedded in the frame of the building. These types of materials require minimal maintenance but still gives an elegant view of the building.</span></div>
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Paulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972040438656379457.post-57125733144568397622013-06-26T09:14:00.000+08:002014-04-07T04:00:12.644+08:00Jones Bridge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-small; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5289/5281876897_990eddbeaa_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5289/5281876897_990eddbeaa_z.jpg" height="490" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="GingerNoCheckStart"></span>The Jones Bridge during its prime years. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5289/5281876897_990eddbeaa_z.jpg" target="_blank">© Flickr/John T. Pilot</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Have you ever wondered why Manila was called names such as <i>"Queen of the Pacific"</i>, <i>"Pearl of the Orient"</i>, <i>"Venice and Paris of the Orient"</i>,<i> "Paris on the Prairie",</i> and <i>"</i></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i>Most Beautiful City in the Far East"</i>? It is because of its architectural beauty, a melting pot of cultures from Europe, America and Asia thus create a fusion of east and west. Bridges were part of Manila's architectural beauty, one of the was the ever-beautiful Jones Bridge. Jones is not just a bridge, it's <i>the </i>bridge for it is considered as <i>"Manila's Queen of all Bridges".</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Jones Bridge's most famous photo, alongside with other Arellano masterpieces such as the <a href="http://arquitecturamanila.blogspot.ca/2013/04/manila-central-post-office-building.html" target="_blank">Post Office Building</a> and the <a href="http://arquitecturamanila.blogspot.ca/2013/04/manila-metropolitan-theatre.html" target="_blank">Manila Metropolitan Theatre</a>. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.arkitektura.ph/uploads/photo/image/1221/normal_3703585858_2e2a0e2c75_b.jpg" target="_blank">© Arkitekturang Filipino</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Jones Bridge was a neo-classical (but more of a beaux-arts) bridge designed by the great Juan Arellano, who also built a number of prominent structures in Manila, namely the Post Office Building, the Old Legislative Building (now the National Museum), and the Metropolitan Theatre. The bridge spans the Pasig River which connects Burgos Drive at one end, and at Plaza Cervantes on the other. </span><br />
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<a href="http://www.arkitektura.ph/uploads/photo/image/1217/normal_3512720366_9054773528_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.arkitektura.ph/uploads/photo/image/1217/normal_3512720366_9054773528_o.jpg" height="390" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Jones Bridge during the 1920s. Note that the construction </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">of</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> the Post Office Building has just started. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.arkitektura.ph/uploads/photo/image/1217/normal_3512720366_9054773528_o.jpg" target="_blank">© Arkitekturang Filipino</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Jones Bridge replaced a much smaller bridge a few meters from the present site. The old <i>Puente <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_noSuggestion GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct" ginger_sofatware_markguid="2be8de01-4eef-40e5-a81e-f7d6383630e1" ginger_sofatware_uiphraseguid="4a3c968d-326d-4e35-8fff-58c9d58d37ab" grcontextid="de:0">de</span> Espa</i><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;"><i>ñ</i></span></span><i style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">a </i><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">was built in 1875 during the Spanish occupation of the Philippines. During the American occupation, the bridge was widened so it could accommodate more traffic. Then in 1914, non-stop rains damaged the bridge's piers. In 1916, the Americans commissioned Juan Arellano, who was then a member of the Bureau of Public Works, to design a bridge.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Jones Bridge during its construction. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.arkitektura.ph/uploads/photo/image/1031/normal_image_1654_1.jpg" target="_blank">© Arkitekturang Filipino</a></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.arkitektura.ph/uploads/photo/image/2401/normal_Jones_Bridge__under_construction_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.arkitektura.ph/uploads/photo/image/2401/normal_Jones_Bridge__under_construction_.jpg" height="400" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Workers installing the steel frames of the Jones Bridge. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.arkitektura.ph/uploads/photo/image/2401/normal_Jones_Bridge__under_construction_.jpg" target="_blank">© Arkitekturang Filipino</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The construction of the new bridge started in 1919 and was completed in 1920. The bridge was inaugurated in 1921 as Jones Bridge, in honor of the American lawmaker William Atkinson Jones.</span></div>
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<a href="http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e400/1stDivVet/WW2%20Photos/WW2%20Pacific%20Photos/Philippines/JamesBridge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e400/1stDivVet/WW2%20Photos/WW2%20Pacific%20Photos/Philippines/JamesBridge.jpg" height="402" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Jones Bridge is reminiscent to those of Paris, particularly the Pont Alexandre III. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e400/1stDivVet/WW2%20Photos/WW2%20Pacific%20Photos/Philippines/JamesBridge.jpg" target="_blank">© Skyscrapercity.com</a></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.arkitektura.ph/uploads/photo/image/1032/normal_image_1655_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.arkitektura.ph/uploads/photo/image/1032/normal_image_1655_1.jpg" height="542" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">An illustration of the gilded piers, balustrades, lampposts, and arches of the grand Jones Bridge. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.arkitektura.ph/uploads/photo/image/1032/normal_image_1655_1.jpg" target="_blank">© Arkitekturang Filipino</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Aside from its ornate piers, arches, and balustrades, there were four (4) pillars with statues adorned the bridge. The <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct" ginger_sofatware_markguid="b2aaf9bd-ed38-4c81-aa0c-78a49ea6d838" ginger_sofatware_uiphraseguid="5ca1b43a-c617-4d53-b547-6ac7da88ed50" grcontextid="famous:0">famous</span> of all the statues was the <i>La Madre Filipina, </i>or "The Filipina Mother". All the statues were commissioned by Juan Arellano to sculptor Martinez.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">La Madre Filipina. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SVadFHpF3lY/T6kWwC2IhUI/AAAAAAAAAe4/YNoYNVn11w8/s1600/1.png" target="_blank">© Nostalgia Filipinas</a></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/PIApproachtoJonesBr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/PIApproachtoJonesBr.jpg" height="198" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Jones Bridge </span><span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct" ginger_sofatware_markguid="8fb3a6be-bb4e-45e2-9995-69e3768f2119" ginger_sofatware_uiphraseguid="f9454213-a04b-491f-b876-3a05181da116" grcontextid="facing:0" style="font-size: x-small;">facing</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> north, going towards Binondo. Note the two pillars adorning the bridge. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/PIApproachtoJonesBr.jpg" target="_blank">© Skyscrapercity.com</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Jones Bridge looking west towards Manila Bay. The Post Office can be seen on the left side and the Binondo and Escolta business area on the right. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4104/5000679615_03b9722a85_z.jpg" target="_blank">© Flickr/John T. Pilot</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Battle of Manila brought destruction to the entire city, including the Jones Bridge. The bridge was bombed by the Japanese Imperial Forces in to delay the advance of the American forces. After the war, it was rebuilt through the Philippine Rehabilitation Act. The bridge was rebuilt still under its original name, but not its original neo-classical design.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.lougopal.com/manila/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Jones-Bridge-1945.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.lougopal.com/manila/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Jones-Bridge-1945.jpg" height="430" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Jones Bridge after the war. A temporary bailey bridge was installed to connect the two points of the city. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.lougopal.com/manila/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Jones-Bridge-1945.jpg" target="_blank">© Lougopal.com</a></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ejMRjAOZEF8/T-ABc0ykgXI/AAAAAAAABts/0uwqdoBMsIo/s640/jones+bridge+1945.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ejMRjAOZEF8/T-ABc0ykgXI/AAAAAAAABts/0uwqdoBMsIo/s640/jones+bridge+1945.jpg" height="372" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">After the war, the bridges four pillars were placed throughout the city. The most famous, the <i>La Madre Filipina</i>, was placed at the Rizal Park. The two other pillars were reportedly seen at the Court of Appeals Building in Manila, and the other one is nowhere to be found.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Jones Bridge at the present time. </span><a href="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4103/5006854891_38a936c819_z.jpg" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">©Flickr/risadlp</span></a></span></div>
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<span class="GingerNoCheckEnd"></span>Paulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-972040438656379457.post-75570541528855600122013-05-12T04:40:00.001+08:002014-04-07T03:52:43.814+08:00Manila City Hall<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-16CHOwiBCEA/UzGxp5WM8tI/AAAAAAAAAaE/mMW7ChhEhK0/s1600/6058007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-16CHOwiBCEA/UzGxp5WM8tI/AAAAAAAAAaE/mMW7ChhEhK0/s1600/6058007.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Manila City Hall at night. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/6058007" target="_blank">© Panoramio/<span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_noSuggestion GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct" ginger_sofatware_markguid="d0b50083-7cbf-47bb-8f2f-d7b668bddd66" ginger_sofatware_uiphraseguid="8f7b3694-5ce6-4910-ae91-74712b48c06a" grcontextid="jsantiago:0">jsantiago</span></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Civic and government edifices built during the American occupation would always stand out, as it reminds us of the importance of these institutions. The Manila City Hall is one of the key government buildings constructed in American Manila. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">The Manila City Hall during the Japanese occupation, circa 1942. Photo taken from the walled city of Intramuros.</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: xx-small;"> <a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7078/7168256910_44bf482131_z.jpg" target="_blank">© Flickr/Beyond Forgetting</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">The Manila City Hall during its construction stage, taken from the Legislative Building along P. Burgos Drive.</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: xx-small;"> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202207493643385&set=o.492789477466714&type=3&theater" target="_blank">© Manila Nostalgia/Ingrid Donahue via Lou Gopal</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Manila City Hall was designed by architect Antonio Toledo and was built in 1939. The city hall is adorned by a hexagonal tower with three clocks on three of its facets. After its completion, the building received negative reviews for its lack of aesthetics, lack of entrances and how the clock tower was placed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The elevation plan for the Manila City Hall's iconic </span><span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct" ginger_sofatware_markguid="22fd316f-d76a-4350-a1a6-51e97684bb5b" ginger_sofatware_uiphraseguid="0cee3943-20f1-4c96-91ee-1d295d108a18" grcontextid="clocktower:0" style="font-size: x-small;">clocktower</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://arkitektura.ph/uploads/photo/image/390/normal_portrait_image_404_1.jpg" target="_blank">© Arkitekturang Filipino</a></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EsK-h66Dpbg/UzGxHkRZNtI/AAAAAAAAAZs/t3OfPUSZjmw/s1600/cityhall19421.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EsK-h66Dpbg/UzGxHkRZNtI/AAAAAAAAAZs/t3OfPUSZjmw/s1600/cityhall19421.jpg" height="640" width="616" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The City Hall's courtyard during the Japanese occupation, circa 1942. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://arkitektura.ph/uploads/photo/image/392/normal_portrait_image_406_1.jpg" target="_blank">© LIFE via Arkitekturang Filipino</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Sadly, the City Hall was not spared from the ravages of war. During the Battle of Manila, the city hall was heavily damaged from shelling. </span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WDIKKiFA7hc/UzGxAsqdXJI/AAAAAAAAAZk/NkwHtnMYk2I/s1600/1946CityHallBurgos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WDIKKiFA7hc/UzGxAsqdXJI/AAAAAAAAAZk/NkwHtnMYk2I/s1600/1946CityHallBurgos.jpg" height="273" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The shelled city hall viewed from Burgos Drive. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/1946CityHallBurgos.jpg" target="_blank">© Skyscrapercity.com</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The city hall after the Battle of Manila in 1945. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4109/4846116651_b0479861be.jpg" target="_blank">© Flickr/ Beyond Forgetting</a></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a0JRHo7swVg/UzGuPLBbSYI/AAAAAAAAAYw/kgsUKxXkyiw/s1600/tumblr_mhkxf72hxO1qze5vjo1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a0JRHo7swVg/UzGuPLBbSYI/AAAAAAAAAYw/kgsUKxXkyiw/s1600/tumblr_mhkxf72hxO1qze5vjo1_500.jpg" height="400" width="281" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Manila City Hall's tower bombed out by artillery shells during the dying days of the war in the capital. </span><a href="http://24.media.tumblr.com/fbe06e30cc32d944f87680162a04d48f/tumblr_mhkxf72hxO1qze5vjo1_500.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Tumblr/MLQ3</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">After the war, the city hall was rebuilt through the War Reparations program of the United States and was criticized due to the shape of its floor plan which looked like a coffin or a shield of the Knights Templar. According to urban legends, it was made to look like a coffin to pay homage to those who died during the Battle of Manila.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MB9-rnIXrGs/UzGyQDGqMSI/AAAAAAAAAaM/Ig_KcGmWDUU/s1600/IMG_20130623_212212.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MB9-rnIXrGs/UzGyQDGqMSI/AAAAAAAAAaM/Ig_KcGmWDUU/s1600/IMG_20130623_212212.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The city hall's </span><span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct" ginger_sofatware_markguid="81eccaf7-7517-4a01-b985-f20adcf1067b" ginger_sofatware_uiphraseguid="b0da7ac8-92ee-4cdc-b7fb-38c2df9b98e2" grcontextid="clocktower:0" style="font-size: x-small;">clocktower</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> as viewed from the courtyard. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a1ElZTZt1hg/Ucb3xBzE9ZI/AAAAAAAAHsM/5s153xPCehM/s1600/IMG_20130623_212212.jpg" target="_blank">© L' Heure Bleue</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The courtyard. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.fotothing.com/photos/f1e/f1e67764882076012fcb39c88dc717ba.jpg" target="_blank">© Senor Enrique</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">One of the city hall's balconies facing the National Museum and Taft Avenue.</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: xx-small;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ZC07qkxybJA/TStFq2LEtHI/AAAAAAAAALA/OUNJdVn9NSA/s1600/aa.JPG" target="_blank">© The Hippie Mum</a></span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GYSNrIeL35o/UzGvl2s9CvI/AAAAAAAAAZE/9OA8l8kqYLQ/s1600/cityhalltower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GYSNrIeL35o/UzGvl2s9CvI/AAAAAAAAAZE/9OA8l8kqYLQ/s1600/cityhalltower.jpg" height="400" width="286" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Manila's iconic clock tower in the present time. </span><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/%27_THE_ICON_OF_MANILA_%27_-_City_Hall_Tower_of_Manila.jpg"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Wikimedia Commons</span></a></span></div>
Paulo Rubiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00230183627515153473noreply@blogger.com8