Heacock's Department Store

A typical scene outside Heacock's Department Store along the Escolta. © Manila Nostalgia/John Harper

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.

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.

H.E. Heacock, one of the founders of H.E. Heacock & Company. © Filipinas Heritage Library

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.

Samuel Francis Gaches, president of the H.E. Heacock & Company. © Filipinas Heritage Library

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.

The pre-1918 Heacock's Department Store along the Escolta. © Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes

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.

An ad from the Philippines Free Press dated December 1923 from Heacock's Department Store. © Manila Nostalgia/Aksyon Radio La Unión

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.

Construction of the new Heacock Building in 1929. © Lougopal.com/Manila Nostalgia 

In an article of the American Chamber of Commerce Journal 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.

"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.

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.

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.

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." (excerpt from the American Chamber of Commerce Journal)

The new million-peso, eight-storey Heacock Building. © Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes (Retrieved from Arquitectura Manila Photo File)

Interior of the Heacock Building on its opening in 1930. © Lougopal.com/Manila Nostalgia

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. 

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 Tomás Argüelles, but with Fernando H. Ocampo and the American George E. Koster.

The new H.E. Heacock & Company Building in 1940. © Manila Nostalgia/Dominic Galicia

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. 

The new H.E. Heacock Building (center) houses Heacock's Department Store and the ammunition storage of the Philippine Army. © LIFE via Lougopal.com/Manila Nostalgia

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. 

The war-torn H.E. Heacock Building, 1945. © Skyscrapercity.com

Calvo Building

The beautiful beaux-arts Calvo Building along the Escolta. © Arquitectura Manila Photo File

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.

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 Argüelles, the Calvo was owned by real estate businesswoman Doña Emiliana Mortera vda. de Calvo. 

  

Architects Tomás Argüelles (left), and Fernando H. Ocampo (right) © Kapampangan Biographical Dictionary

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. 

A newspaper special article on the opening of the Calvo Building in 1938. © 98B

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.

The Calvo also housed Luisa's, a pre-war soda fountain house and a favorite among Manila's alta sociedad.

Calvo Building during the pre-war years. © Manila Nostalgia/Isidra Reyes

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. © Manila Nostalgia/John Tewell via Lou Gopal

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. 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. 

Detailed mascarons of the Calvo Building drawn in ink. © Flickr/strangero19

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. 

   

The interior of the Escolta Museum lined with scale model buildings. © Fitzgrace Manila

Detailed shot of the Calvo Building. © David Montasco