In 1584, a building was built to protect the route between Cavite and Manila and to protect the city’s back from the south. This was the beginning of the fort. The fort was used to store gunpowder, or polverin, because the polverin near the Bastion de San Diego in Intramuros was thought to be dangerous if it caught fire by accident. In 1762, the British took over the fort and used it in their attack on Manila.
After the British took over from 1762 to 1764, this polverin was fixed up and renamed San Antonio Abad after a holy hermit who started the monastic movement in the church.
As an outer defense for the walled city of Intramuros, the fort didn’t work when the Americans attacked, and the first time the Stars and Stripes flag was flown was on its walls on August 13, 1898.
Photos from this time show that the fort was damaged during the Battle of Manila Bay when it was hit by bombs.
During World War II, the Japanese put a cannon on top of a cement bunker they built on the eastern side of the fort. After the war, the navy used the fort and the land around it until they were given to the Central Bank.
With the building of a new Central Bank Complex along Roxas Boulevard in the 1970s, this triangular fort with two bastions was fixed up. A third bastion and the rooms for the gatekeeper and guards right after the north-facing main gate were not rebuilt. In 1863, an earthquake hurt this building. Photos from the 1890s don’t show any sign of a building, which may have been torn down and never rebuilt. The coat of arms of Spain is on top of the only gate to the fort. In a niche on the back wall, there is a wooden picture of the fort’s patron.
The fort is between the Central Bank building and the Metropolitan Museum of Manila. It is used by the Central Bank or the museum for events like receptions. In 2014, the National Museum said that the fort was a National Cultural Treasure.