Baguio Heritage Area
Baguio City was an Ibaloy village called Kafagway
There was an Ibaloy village called Kafagway on the current site of Baguio City. Spanish explorers, accompanied by Augustinian friars from Ilocos, went up the Naguilian trail at the end of the nineteenth century and discovered a fertile valley. The valley was named La Trinidad after the Holy Trinity, and a chapel was built to house an image of Nuestra Seora de Covadonga. La Trinidad was the Cordilleras’ first colonial settlement. The parish of San Jose was eventually built, but the friars had little success converting the local population. Catholicism took root in La Trinidad only later, when Ilocano migrants from the lowlands migrated to the valley in search of work.

Kennon Road to Baguio, popularly known as the Zigzag, circa 1915 (John Tewell Collection)
After the Philippine-American War, Kafagway was renamed Baguio, which is said to be derived from the Ibaloy word “bagiw,” which means moss (1899-1901).
Following the recommendations of the Spanish Benguet Commission, the Americans chose Kafagway as a colonial hill station and health resort, which was confirmed by Dean C. Worcester and Gen Luke E. Wright on an exploratory trip in 1900. Worcester and Wright were dispatched to confirm reports about the highlands of Luzon, where the air was cool, pine trees grew, and fog covered the landscape on a regular basis. When the Americans discovered Baguio, located at 1,504 meters above sea level, they decided to develop it as a hill station, similar to the British hill stations in India, such as Simla. They intended to build a sanatorium and summer retreat for American colonists. The Philippine Commission designated Baguio as the Philippines’ “Summer Capital” in 1903.
After the Americans began to build public structures, the community grew from about 20 indigenous houses at the turn of the century. Infrastructure projects began as well, with the construction of the Benguet Road on the Bued River Canyon. The road diverged from the proposed Spanish wagon road in the Naguilian Trail, which had been widened and improved over time. It connected Baguio and Bauang, La Union, via Naguilian.
To construct Benguet Road, rocks were dynamite-blasted and debris was manually cleared by workers of various nationalities, including Filipinos, Americans, Japanese, and Chinese. The road connects Rosario, La Union, and Baguio City and was built between 1901 and 1905. It was later renamed Kennon Road after Colonel Lyman Kennon, a US Army engineer who oversaw the road’s construction from 1903 to 1905. Colonel Kennon’s achievement was recognized by the renaming of Kennon Road, which solved the problem of how to expedite the road’s construction so that it could be open to traffic by 1905. Kennon’s solution was to build a trail wide enough for horses to haul supplies to seven camps, and from the camps, teams of workers would cut through the mountains, widening the road so that supply vehicles could pass through. The original road was a Macadam Telford type, which was later improved as an all-weather asphalt road and was later replaced with concrete in some sections.
On September 19, 1909, the Americans formally established Baguio City.
The city was designed by urban planner and architect Daniel Burnham. In December 1904, he traveled to Baguio. Burnham drew his plans for Baguio and Manila on his return to the United States, sending them to the Philippines as “the Burnham plan for the improvement of the city of Manila” and “the Burnham plan for the improvement of Baguio.” Burnham proposed adapting the standard grid to the terrain while keeping Baguio’s scenic features in mind. Burnham delegated the details of his proposal to architects and engineers from the Bureau of Public Works. He recommended William E. Parsons, an École des Beaux Arts graduate, as the implementing architect. Parsons was appointed as the government’s consulting architect by Philippine Commission Act No. 1495 on May 26, 1906.
During the Marcos administration, Baguio City was connected to Manila via the 42-kilometer Marcos Highway (renamed Aspiras-Palispis Highway in 2000) from Agoo, La Union. The Halsema Highway later connected Baguio with Bontoc and Sagada in Mountain Province. A new road connecting the city to the province of Nueva Vizcaya was inaugurated in 2008. Traveling by land from Manila to Baguio used to take six to seven hours, but with the completion of the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX), travel time is now significantly shorter.
The city is also reachable by air, thanks to the Loakan Airport. The still-operational airport, built in 1934 and measuring 4.3 kilometers, is rarely used by commercial airlines due to its short airstrip and other security concerns. However, private and military aircrafts continue to use the airport.
Before the construction of Kennon Road, the only way to get to Baguio from Manila was to take a 24-hour sea trip to San Fernando, La Union, and then two to three days on horseback via Naguilian on a trail built by the Spaniards in 1892. The road had 60 wooden bridges when it first opened in 1905. Prewar Baguio Mayor Eusebius J. Halsema, who was also the district engineer of the Bureau of Public Works at the time, replaced all of these bridges with steel arches. The project was a component of his larger plan to improve Benguet Road.

Prewar Pines Hotel (Leo Cloma Collection)
The 1905 Burnham plan identified specific areas for government and municipal centers with the goal of making Baguio the summer capital. The government center complex consisted of nine buildings, all of which were completed in 1909 and were mostly made of wood. At Luneta Hill, the former site of the Pines Hotel (now SM Baguio), this complex included athletic fields, a mess hall, and a social hall, as well as tennis courts (now Baguio Convention Center), a playground (now Department of Social Welfare and Development compound), and dormitories. In 1923, one of these dormitories was converted into Casa Vallejo, which later became a 33-room hotel. The building, the oldest surviving structure in Baguio, sat vacant for years before being restored and renovated in 2010 to become a hotel with a restaurant, bookstore, mini-theater, and spa.
From 1909 to 1911, the government complex also included around 80 cottages. In 1910, the American government of the Philippines began relocating its bureaus to the city, with officials and employees staying in dormitories and government-owned cottages during the so-called “Baguio Season.” This practice, however, was discontinued by Governor-General Francis Harrison in 1913, following opposition from Filipino legislators who argued it was merely a luxury. Because of this, public buildings and cottages were left vacant, but they were eventually re-purposed as venues for public gatherings and other activities. The majority of these structures were destroyed during WWII.
From 22 April to 11 June 1904, one of the city’s earliest structures was the site of the Philippine Commission’s first session in Baguio, where Baguio was declared the nation’s summer capital. Only the historical marker placed by the Philippines Historical Committee, now the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), in 1940 survives on a road at the foot of Luneta Hill (now Governor Pack Road). At the moment, the surrounding area is a bus terminal.
The Victory Liner bus station on Upper Session Road replaced Baguio’s main bus station prior to World War II. The site was once the Benguet Auto Line (BAL) terminal, a government-owned transportation company linked with the Philippine National Railway (PNR), where passengers rode buses and limousines to and from the Damortis rail station in Rosario, La Union, for their trip to and from Manila. The government had an ambitious plan to extend the railroad tracks that connected Manila and Dagupan, which were originally laid out during the Spanish era to reach San Fernando, La Union, and a spur to Baguio City via Naguilian. World War II halted the construction of the Naguilian-Baguio spur. The tracks came to an end at Damortis.
The former Baguio Sanatorium, which dates back to 1902 and is located near the University of the Cordilleras and the Commission on Elections, was also on Governor Pack Road. Under the direction of its first director, Dr. H. Eugene Stafford, the Sanatorium opened on what is now known as Luneta Hill. When Baguio Hospital opened in 1908 at the upper end of Benguet Road, south of the current Baguio General Hospital building, it became the Hotel Pines, the city’s first tourist hotel.
The construction of Baguio Hospital began in 1907, and it was followed by the construction of a nurses’ home. Cottages for recovering tuberculosis patients were located at the top of the ridge adjacent to the Baguio Hospital. A photograph of the Baguio Hospital from 1910 shows it as a modest two-story structure with a pitched roof and a one-story wing on either side. The hospital had been expanded by 1910. Dr. Silverio Garcia was appointed as the first in a long line of Filipino administrators in 1915. President Manuel Quezon promised to rebuild the hospital on a larger scale in 1930. The project, however, did not start until 1937, when the hospital was renamed Baguio General Hospital (BGH). The building, which was inaugurated on February 22, 1941, is now the main building of the Baguio General Hospital. This was a two-story structure with four wings that followed a modified H-plan. This structure was designed in a harsh neoclassical style, with an arched porte cochere at the main entrance.
Due to heavy bombing, the hospital was forced to close in April 1945. The main building was severely damaged, but it was rebuilt in 1948. A severe earthquake struck Baguio on July 16, 1990, destroying several buildings. Fourteen other structures, including the main building, required repairs. The BGH main building has been repaired, reconstructed, and repainted in the green and white color scheme of the American era.

Prewar Mansion House (Edward Delos Santos/Pinoy Kollektor)
Mansion House or The Mansion (also known as Executive House) was the official summer residence in Baguio of American governor-generals and, later, Philippine presidents. It was located on Romulo Drive, which is part of the Baguio-Tuding Road. It was built between 1907 and 1908. With a $15,000 budget, government architect William E. Parsons was commissioned to design the house. More than a hundred inmates from the Bilibid Penitentiary who had their sentences commuted worked on the paths, terraces, and paddocks. A professional nurseryman from Scotland and Japanese gardeners oversaw the garden. The residence was probably expanded in 1935 to coincide with its transfer to the Philippine Commonwealth, which was established in July of that year. The house was converted into the summer residence of Philippine President Manuel Quezon.

Prewar cottages in Camp John Hay (Leo Cloma Collection)
In Camp John Hay, a new summer residence for the highest American official, the High Commissioner, was constructed. It was completed in 1940 by Paul V. McNutt, but after Philippine independence, the residence was given to the American ambassador as a summer residence.
Mansion House, which was badly damaged during WWII and rehabilitated from 1946 to 1947, is still used as the summer residence of Philippine presidents. Following the war, it hosted historic international conferences such as the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) in 1947, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 1948, and the Southeast Asian Union (SEAUfirst )’s meeting, known as The Baguio Conference, in 1950.
Parsons designed the Mansion House in a grand neoclassical style, adhering to Beaux-Arts principles. Subsequent additions in 1935 followed in this style, resulting in a smooth transition between the central section designed by Parsons and the additions. With the 1935 additions, Mansion House now has an H-plan, with the central two-story wing flanked on either side by perpendicular one-story wings. The central wing features a seven-arched arcade with a semicircular pediment set on a balustraded balcony that runs the length of the main building. This pediment bears the Republic of the Philippines’ seal. Quadrilateral windows can be found on the second floor as well as the flanking wings.
The garden setting of the house adds to the grandeur of the Mansion and demonstrates its Beaux Arts sensibilities. It is set back from the road and is accessible through the main gate via a short straight road that runs north-west and connects to a large rotunda or roundabout. Two roads branch east and west from the rotunda to auxiliary buildings hidden by trees and foliage. The main entrance to the Mansion is located at the rotunda’s southeast corner. Visitors rarely enter the Mansion, so the Mansion is only visible through the elaborate grille work of the triple gated main entrance, which frames the building.
Wright Park is a garden located across from Mansion House. A long but shallow reflecting pool can be found in this park. The park is physically separated from the Mansion by Romulo Drive, but it forms one composition aesthetically with the Mansion, whose silhouette is reflected on the pool’s surface. Benguet pines (Pinus kesiya; older name Pinus insularis) and formally planted gardens flank either side of the pool. Wright Park, at the end of Lake Drive, has a stone amphitheater. Because this garden, like the Mansion, is on high ground, a flight of stairs at the southwestern end leads to a lower area and Leonard Wood Road.

Houses in Teachers Camp (CCP Collections)
The Baguio Teachers Camp is located between South Drive and Leonard Wood Road. Teachers Camp, formerly known as “O-ring-ao” by the locals, was established in 1908 as a vacation or retreat place for teachers by Benguet Governor William F. Pack and Education Secretary Morgan W. Shuster. It was run by the Bureau of Education and later became the location for annual summer camps. In April 1908, an assembly of American school teachers was held in the Philippines using only tents equipped with beds, tables, chairs, and wash stands. A mess hall, which was already operational in 1912, was one of the first structures to rise in this camp. There were already 34 permanent structures inside the camp by 1928.
Not far from Teachers Camp is Topside, a gift from the city of Baguio to Governor-General William Cameron Forbes in appreciation for his efforts in developing the city. His Topside house was built and completed in 1908. During WWII, it became Forbes’ headquarters, but it was damaged during the liberation. The ruins of this edifice are now the Good Shepherd Convent’s house of prayer.
In 1905, the Americans established a country club in the city. The grass-thatched, wooden slab clubhouse was inaugurated in 1906 by Governor-General Forbes. The country club had a three-hole golf course and a croquet course by the time it opened. The construction of cottages and a permanent clubhouse were completed in 1908. The Baguio Country Club was the center of the city’s American residents until 1910, when it opened its doors to Filipino members. From 1942 to 1944, it was the Japanese Officers’ Club, and in 1945, it became the headquarters of the 33rd Division of the United States Armed Forces.
Baguio Country Club once shared an 18-hole golf course with Camp John Hay, a 216-hectare US military reservation. This camp dates back to 1903, when US President Theodore Roosevelt issued General Order No. 48, which established it as an army post in Baguio. The camp had an officers’ mess and enlisted men’s barracks. The commanding general’s summer residence was built in 1907, overlooking the Bell Amphitheater, an open-air auditorium built in 1913. It was held by the Americans for decades before being turned over to the Philippine government in 1991. The base was privatized and placed under the jurisdiction of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA).
Some of the former structures, such as the enlisted men’s barracks, were restored and repurposed as long-term rent-out residences. Others were demolished to make way for new construction. Camp John Hay is now a popular tourist destination in Baguio, complete with hotels, restaurants, shops, and a convention center. It has also evolved into a hub for those involved in e-commerce, call centers, and back-office operations that serve an international market.
Teachers Camp, the Baguio Country Club, and Camp John Hay were all built in the stick-style, a term used to describe a 19th-century architectural style that emerged in the United States. It is distinguished by the use of wood strips overlaid on the outside wall to resemble an exposed half-timbered frame. The strips crossed diagonally at times, resembling Tudor houses. The Pines Hotel used this style, but the rectangular overlay was far more common.
From the posts to the roof structure, the typical Camp John Hay dwelling was almost entirely made of wood. The entire house was built on a post and lintel framework, with wooden posts anchored to a cement foundation. To secure the cement-wood connection, iron braces embedded in cement supported the lower part of the post, and bolts connected the braces to the post. Corrugated galvanized iron sheets covered a hip or pitched roof with wide overhangs on the house. It was raised about a meter above the damp and cold earth. The walls were made of tongue and groove planks that were typically laid out horizontally. The windows were made of glass with a wooden frame, and the floor was made of wood.
Asphalt paper was sandwiched between the outside and inside walls to protect the interior from dampness. The kitchen and toilet areas, which included faucets and sinks, were either tiled or covered with flat galvanized iron sheets. The walls had been painted white. The roof, windows, and door frames are all a dark green color. These Baguio stick house style dwellings blended in well with the environment; the green paint is reminiscent of Baguio’s pine trees, and the white paint is reminiscent of the fog that blankets Baguio when the temperature drops.
Baguio served as both the national and municipal or local capital. The national government was given the southern sector of Baguio, beginning with Luneta Hill and its environs and continuing all the way to Mansion House. The seat of municipal government in Baguio was facing Burnham Park.
The 16-hectare park named after Burnham is the centerpiece of the Burnham Plan of Baguio. Burnham designated the low-lying area, which was once the site of an Ibaloy village, as an open public space. He chose it because of its scenic potential, despite the fact that it was surrounded by hills. The park’s construction employed many workers who used manual tools and manually operated tram cars to move the soil from 1904 to the 1910s. The water for its man-made lagoon (later Burnham Lake) came from Minak Creek. It used to have two small ponds at either end, as well as a race track with a 50-foot-wide race track. The race track, which opened in 1914, was demolished in the 1920s by Mayor Halsema. In its place, Halsema constructed a fountain in the lagoon and a nine-hole public golf course. At present, it has an Igorot Park, picnic areas, skating rink, rose garden, an athletic bowl, and a grandstand named after the founder of the Lions Club, Melvin Jones. It became a safe haven for victims of the 1990 Luzon earthquake.

Baguio City Hall, circa 1925 (Ben Cabrera Collection)
The first Baguio City Hall was built on a hill northwest of Burnham Park, beginning in 1909 and finishing in 1910, during the term of the city’s first mayor, E. W. Reynold. Its construction coincided with Baguio’s chartering as a city in 1909. This first structure was built on a terraced hill that was divided into three levels and reached via cement steps with landings at each level. This configuration is still in use today.
The stick-style architecture was chosen for the 1909 building, but the thin wood planks were laid out in the lines of Tudor timber architecture. The city hall could then be called Tudor-style. The stick-style was chosen as an aesthetic and clever way to conceal the materials used, which were wood and galvanized iron sheet. Galvanized iron was used for the roof and external walls, while wood was used for support and framing. Wooden planks held them in place. The iron sheets and planks were painted a contrasting color in true Tudor fashion. The planks were dark in color, most likely black or dark brown, and the sheets were white. This first structure was two stories tall, with a pitched roof with wide overhangs bordered by rain gutters and downspouts at the corners that were designed to look like thin roof supports. At either end of the longitudinal structure, chimneys for fire places pierced the galvanized iron roof. The external timbering defined eleven bays on the building. A triangular pediment capped the three central bays that protruded outward. A balcony stood in front of this central section. The building’s windows were quadrilateral, with media aguas in the lower windows of the flanking bays and the windows on the second floor of the central section (awnings). A covered corridor connected City Hall to a one-story auxiliary building in the same style.
The Japanese flag was hoisted at the city hall in 1941, signaling the Japanese occupation of the city. The structure was destroyed in 1945. From 1949 to 1950, it was rebuilt in concrete and inaugurated by then-President Elpidio Quirino.
The post-World War II structure was no longer Tudor-style, but rather neoclassical. It, too, was divided into bays, thirteen this time instead of eleven, with the central three projecting outwards. The two-story structure featured quadrilateral windows and openings. The central section was designed in the Grecian temple style, but its four pillars lacked capitals. The pillars rise two stories and are topped by a triangular pediment with dentiles. The central section served as a formal entrance to the city hall, with a vestibule leading to the city hall’s triple doors. The structure was restored over a two-year period, from 1997 to 1999. The traditional Baguio color scheme of white and green has been restored. It has a dark green roof with dormer windows, and the walls are mostly white.
In response to the need to educate the children of Americans stationed in Baguio as well as locals, educational institutions were established in the city, beginning with the Baguio School (later Baguio Central School) in 1899. It began with 25 students at a different location before being relocated to the Government Center in 1914. It was destroyed during WWII and rebuilt in 1949 with funds from the war reparations fund. The Department of Education and the Heritage Conservation Society restored the school building in 2005. It is similar to the design of Baguio City Hall, with its Grecian temple facade in the center and three bays, but it has two flanking bays on either side, three fewer than the city hall. Only the windows on the second floor are quadrilateral, and the lower windows are arched. The pediment is unadorned. The Baguio Central School was designed in the style of American-era school buildings, where high schools, particularly in urban areas and those designated as central, were more grandiose than the more common Gabaldon-style school.
In 1906, the Easter School (later Easter College, Inc.) replaced the Baguio School. Reverend Walter P. Clapp began Easter School with eight students from Bontoc, Mountain Province. A schoolhouse that also served as a dormitory was built thanks to a donation from Anglican Bishop Charles Henry Brent. This structure was intended for Igorot schoolchildren. Bishop Brent considered building another structure for American boys but decided against it because he was opposed to mixing races. The mission residence, church, weaving room, girls’ dormitory, and a print shop were among the first structures built at Easter School. By the 1920s, these structures were already in place.
Bishop Brent established the Baguio School for Boys in 1909, which was later renamed after him in 1923. It served the educational needs of children of Anglican missionaries, soldiers, English merchants, and American children. With the opening of the girls’ dormitory in 1925, the school became coeducational. During WWII, school employees and students were transferred to Camp John Hay’s Scout’s Barracks, then to Camp Holmes. The school began accepting Filipino students two years after the war. In 1984, it expanded beyond Baguio.
One of the Brent School’s buildings is one of the oldest surviving structures in Baguio. The structure was built in 1909, the year the school was founded. The building, later renamed Ogilby Hall, retains its original, complete stone-based framework. Brent School followed in the footsteps of Camp John Hay and Teachers Camp. This stick-style painted green and white became a Baguio signature style that was used in private individual projects.
Today, Baguio City is the northern educational hub, with a number of colleges and universities located there. Saint Louis University, the University of the Cordilleras, the University of the Philippines-Baguio, the University of Baguio, Pines City Colleges, and the Philippine Military Academy, the country’s premier military school, are among them.

American-period Baguio Market (Leo Cloma Collection)
Aside from being the educational center, Baguio is also the Cordilleras’ commercial center. This began in the 1900s with the establishment of the Baguio Market. The market’s first two buildings, located at the intersection of Session Road and Magsaysay Avenue, were constructed of wood in 1908. Traders from the lowlands used to ride bull carts to Baguio to trade in weekend markets. Traveling up the city via Kennon or Naguilian Road usually took them two to three days.
German prisoners of war from World War I then built a stone market in 1917. The market was distinguished by its liberal use of stones quarried from a quarry behind the Baguio City Hall. This quarry produced limestone in a variety of hues, including white, cream, beige, reddish beige, and speckled and veined with black and dark brown. The stones were taken from the location, which is now known as Quarry or City Camp. The market was a simple box structure with portals that were wide but low semicircular arches. The stone framework withstood World War II and a 1970 fire, but it was demolished in the 1970s, much to the chagrin of vendors and civil groups campaigning for its restoration. In its place now stands the Maharlika Livelihood Complex.
Session Road, the most famous street in Baguio, began as a narrow lane with shops and structures on one side. Following the gold mining boom of 1933, the road was widened in the 1930s. During this time, concrete buildings were also built. Photo shops, silversmiths, bakeries, and stores owned by Japanese and Chinese businessmen were among the first to open on Session Road. The Japanese Bazaar was a Japanese store with a pharmacy, a photo studio, and a vehicle rental service. The first pedestrian overpass in Baguio was built on Session Road. Sergio Bayan, the city’s first Filipino mayor, built it of wood in 1939 to connect Casa Vallejo and the Post Office. The Baguio Post Office, which was built in 1918, once housed a public library on the second floor.
A number of theaters once stood on Session Road, but have since closed or fallen into disuse. The Alhamar Chainus Theater, named after Chainus Guirey, the 1915 Carnival Queen, has been demolished. It has been replaced by a store that sells pre-owned clothing. The Plaza and Pines Theater are no longer in operation. Pines Theater, like a number of demolished buildings along Session Road, is in the art deco style. The theater was designed in the Streamline Moderne style, as evidenced by the curving line of the facade. Pines’ signage is also in the art deco style. While it is no longer a working theater, its interior has been converted into offices, shops, and restaurants.
A number of businesses along Session Road and the roads connecting to it were destroyed by the powerful July 1990 earthquake. The Nevada and FRB Hotels, Skyworld Condominium, and Amapola Restaurant were all destroyed. The nearby Park Hotel on Harrison Road also collapsed. A number of people were killed when the Hyatt Terraces Hotel on South Road collapsed.
Baguio is also a spiritual center. The American colonial government purposefully planned this. To attract residents and relocators to Baguio, the government launched an active campaign to attract church groups. A public auction of government lands was held in May 1905, and church groups, schools, and businesses were invited. This auction resulted in large tracts of land being purchased by church groups.

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Atonement (Nicanor G. Tiongson Collection)
The neo-Gothic Cathedral of Our Lady of the Atonement is one of Baguio’s most photographed landmarks. The first three Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae (CICM) missionaries or Belgian Fathers arrived in Baguio in 1907. The CICM Mission’s first location was the home of a retired treasurer on Session Road. Father Serafin Devesse was the first rector of this converted house, which was dedicated to Saint Patrick. In 1908, Father Devesse converted the house into a chapel and convent. Father Devesse established a boys’ school there, which would later become Saint Louis University.
As the congregation grew, it became clear that a larger church was required. The larger church on the nearby hill, known as Kampo by the Ibaloy, was finished in 1924 but lacked the spire-capped towers that were added later. In 1932, Baguio was designated as the seat of the Mountain Province’s apostolic prefecture, and in 1946, it was elevated to the status of Apostolic Vicariate. The apostolic vicariates of Bontoc-Lagawe and Tabuk were split off from Baguio in 1992. Baguio was established as a diocese in 2004, with Vigan as its metropolitan. When the parish church received its resident bishop in 1935, three years after being designated an apostolic prefecture, it became known as a cathedral.
The cathedral was damaged by World War II bombings but survived. After the war, it was rebuilt. Following the earthquake on July 16, 1990, the cathedral underwent conservation work. To stabilize the ground, the foundations of the right tower were filled with cement.
The cathedral was built in the neo-Gothic style. Its height and proportions, as well as the use of rose windows and stained glass, are all distinctly neo-Gothic. The neo-Romanesque arches, on the other hand, are used for doors, windows, and as decorative embellishments on the facade and collateral chapels. The church is cruciform, with an arcade separating the nave from the aisle. The ceiling is a barrel vault of Roman arches divided by segments that correspond to the arcade pillars. There are galleries above the transept ends, one of which has a pipe organ on the Epistle side. The elevated choir loft above the vestibule is large enough to accommodate more churchgoers. The apse is semicircular, with a stained-glass wall inside narrow Roman arches and occuli above the arches. A low hardwood panel carved with images of saints decorates the apse. It is inspired by Gothic altar pieces and is set against the backwall of the apse.
The church features stained-glass rose windows flanked by occuli on the facade and four rose windows above three Roman arches on the sides. The stained-glass arches and windows correspond to the transept end and the collateral chapels. The church’s bell towers flanking the facade are covered by spires surmounted by a cross, and decorative finials adorn the ends of pillars that rise to the level of the roof. The Baguio Cathedral has always stood out in the downtown area due to its elevation and its pink, gray, and red paint, which it has worn since the 1950s—a stark contrast to the heritage green and white color of pre-World War II Baguio structures. A columbarium was built beneath the cathedral’s apse, and behind the apse is a small chapel designed in the same style as the cathedral. It was recently constructed for Latin Masses.
Other religious congregations, in addition to the CICM Missionaries, established houses in the city.

Dominican Hill (Edward Delos Santos/Pinoy Kollektor)
The Dominicans established a monastery-cum-retreat house on a hilltop that became known as Dominican Hill. The structure was built between 1913 and 1915 on a 17-hectare plot of land purchased by the Dominicans from American authorities. Father Roque Ruao, OP, the architect of the University of Santo Tomas Main Building in Sampaloc, Manila, which was completed in 1928, designed the now-hundred-year-old edifice. In 1915, the Colegio del Santisimo Rosario was established. However, it closed after two years due to a low enrollment. Prior to 1920, the Dominican Monastery was the city’s largest stone structure. The building, the first with a rain harvesting facility, was damaged during WWII and was rebuilt from 1947 to 1948. It was sold to Diplomat Hotels Inc. in 1973, who converted it into a 33-bedroom hotel that closed in 1987. The property, which is now known as Heritage and Nature Park, was purchased by the city government of Baguio in 2005.
Ruao styled the Dominican Monastery after a medieval castle. The structure is designed around two atriums with a central wing, dividing the site into two segments comprised of four wings that encircle the building’s perimeter. It has two fountains in its inner gardens. The facade of the building bears the Dominican seal, with the rosary garlanded around it, and the Dominican cross above the arched center. This central section, like the flanking bays, projects outwards, and a porte cochere has been constructed in front of it. The facade has 17 bays, three in the center and seven on either side. The lower floor is rusticated and has arched windows. The upper floor has a smooth wall and quadrilateral windows. A flat walkway with a decorative parapet surrounds the roof level. A frieze of dentils visually separates the roof line from the floor below. The sides and back of this atrial-style building are adorned in the same way as the front with a pattern of arched windows below and quadrilateral windows above. Despite the fact that it is in ruins, having lost much of its woodwork and roof to the elements and unscrupulous scavengers, the interior hints at the building’s now faded elegance. Around the perimeter, an arcade reminiscent of monastic buildings leads to the gardens. The remains of an elegant semicircular staircase that led to the upper floor can be found in the central section.

American-period Mirador Hill (Leo Cloma Collection)
The Jesuit property on top of Mirador Hill is located north of the Dominican monastery. Don Manuel Scheidnagel, Baguio’s then-gobernador politico-militar, named the area El Mirador in 1876 because it provides a commanding view of the Lingayen Gulf, La Union, and the West Philippine Sea. In 1890, Jesuit priest Miguel Roces proposed that the property be purchased to serve as a Jesuit sanitarium, but this did not materialize until 1906, when they were able to purchase the property in a public auction. Six years before, the Jesuits established a meteorological and seismic station on Mirador Hill. A three-bedroom house was built at the bottom of the hill in 1907. It was constructed of wood and had a cogon roof. Mirador Hill’s first house was the first of three. The road to the summit was built the following year, along with a more sturdy house made of stone and mortar. This was a summer residence for the Jesuits.
The famous Lourdes Grotto was built in 1913, and the stairway connecting it to the foot of the hill was finished in 1918. Father Jose Algue, SJ, director of the Manila Observatory in Baguio, spearheaded the project. The original image of Our Lady of Lourdes is made of polychromed balayong wood and was carved and signed in Manila in 1913 by Isabelo Tampinco. Mirador Hill was abandoned by the Jesuits during World War II when Japanese forces occupied it. It was destroyed during WWII and rebuilt in 1951 to the designs of MIT graduate and architect Gines Rivera. He chose to build around, rather than over, the site of the prewar building, which was on the hill’s summit. He chose not to use stone because it gets wet and cold.
The new structure was made of wood and galvanized iron and consisted of three parallel wings connected by a corridor. The Manila Observatory was in the north wing, and the remaining wings were villas or vacation homes. Mirador Jesuit Villa, the reconstructed Jesuit residence, was built of wood in the stick-style of American colonial architecture, similar to the houses at Teachers Camp and Camp John Hay. The Manila Observatory relocated to Mirador Hill in 1952, but relocated again after ten years to the Ateneo Campus in Quezon City.
The Protestant Church, founded with the assistance of American missionary Reverend Howard Widdoes, was another group that set foot in Baguio and proselytized its people. The United Brethren Church (later United Evangelical Church), founded in 1911 by Maximino Nebres and Pastor Juan Abuan Nebres, was one of the first Protestant churches in Northern Luzon. In 1948, the church joined the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) and was renamed UCCP Baguio two years later. During WWII, the church served as a refuge for locals. The UCCP church at the foot of the Baguio City Hall hill still stands. It is a simple structure that combines neogothic and neoromanesque elements.
The city also has traditional Cordillera architecture. The Tam-awan Village in Pinsao Proper is a living museum of traditional Ifugao and Kalinga houses. The Chanum Foundation, Inc began reconstructing the houses in the late 1990s to make them more accessible to the public. On a property that resembled a Cordillera village, seven Ifugao and two Kalinga houses were rebuilt. Tam-awan, a local word for vantage point, is home to one of southern Kalinga’s three remaining binayon octagonal houses. All of the houses are open to visitors, with the exception of one that serves as an art gallery. In Ifugao, the houses are named after their origins, such as Bangaan, Anaba, Batad, Dukligan, Kinakin, and Nagor, and in Kalinga, Luccong and Bugnay. Tam-awan hosts art exhibitions, workshops, and cultural performances.
The NHCP has designated a number of Baguio sites and structures over the years. The Mansion was designated a National Historical Landmark in 2009, and the US Embassy Residence in Baguio, the former summer residence of the US High Commissioner for the Philippines, was designated in 2005 by the same agency. This is where General Tomoyuki Yamashita and Vice Admiral Denhici Okochi formally surrendered to US forces in 1940. The city hall was also designated by the NHCP in 2009, Brent School in 2011, UCCP Baguio in 2012, and Dominican House in 2014. It had previously marked Teachers Camp in 1968.