Insular Life Building
Insular Life Assurance Company, Ltd. building in Makati, circa 1970 (Archives of The Insular Life Assurance Company, Ltd.)
Insular Life Building: Binondo, Manila
Completed 1930 / Architects: William James Odom, Fernando de la Cantera
The Insular Life Building was built in 1930 to replace a building that Fernando de la Cantera Blondeau had designed. The insurance company, which had been around since 1907, moved into the 1930 building for the third time. It stayed in this building until the 1960s, when the corporate office moved to Paseo de Roxas in Makati and then to a new corporate hub in Alabang.
The building won first place in a competition for architects in 1930. It was right in front of the Uy-Chaco Building on the southwest corner of Plaza Cervantes. The building had six main stories, but each corner had an extra floor. The northeast corner was topped by an octagon with mythical figures and a small temple that held a global lantern on which an imperial eagle perched, which was the symbol of the company that owned the building.
The Insular Life Building was a mix of two popular styles from the 1850s to the 1920s: art deco and revivalism. It was meant to look like a modern American skyscraper, so the north and west fronts were divided into bays by stylized pilasters that went from the ground to the floors. This gave the building a soaring look. This was made clearer by the fact that the window pillarettes were all lined up perfectly. Up to the fifth floor, the pilarette pattern was used again and again on the front of the northeast tower, which faced the street corner at an angle.
In the 1960s, the Insular Life Building was one of the first buildings on Ayala Avenue. It stood out for its innovative and bold modern design and for the relief sculptures by Napoleon Abueva, who later became the National Artist for Sculpture, that show stylized scenes of Philippine life and culture, such as native games and dances and different jobs.
Ground floor lobby
The inLife Learning Center will be a business, training, recruitment and membership hub for policyholders and financial advisers.
The 12th floor Ballroom can accommodate 300 persons, and may be divided into three smaller function rooms.
An Icon Reimagined: Insular Life Building Makati
Insular Life unveiled the newly-renovated Makati Building on August 9, 2017.
Insurance Commissioner Dennis B. Funa was the guest of honor at the ceremony. The Insular Life Board of Trustees, led by Chairman of the Board Luis C. la, Nina D. Aguas, President and COO Mona Lisa B. de la Cruz, executives, members of the agency force, valued policyholders, and members of the media were also there. The blessing was led by Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio G. Cardinal Tagle, who was helped by Fr. Larry Tan, SDB, and Fr. Cris Robert Cellan, SSP.
After the blessing, the University of the Philippines Singing Ambassadors, one of the best choral groups in the country, put on a short show. At the end of the event, a light and sound show was shown on the building’s front.
The event was also a good place to show how Insular Life is changing with its new interior design, modern amenities, and easy-to-use services.
Its mezzanine floor is home to the inLife Learning Center, which offers its policyholders and agency force a state-of-the-art business, training, recruitment, and membership center.
Part of the Center will be used to help policyholders with their problems. Policyholders who want to use services like policy loans, dividend withdrawals, Variable Universal Life transactions, and premium payments will be able to do so easily at the inLife Learning Center. They can do this by meeting with Insular Life’s service providers in person or by using I-Serve, an automated policy servicing feature.
The Center also has cozy meeting spaces and rooms where the Company’s agency staff can be trained and where potential agency recruits can learn about job opportunities. The equipment that will be used in the Center will also be connected to wifi and the internet. This will make it easier for people to talk to each other and get services faster.
As before, the public will be able to rent the 12th-floor ballroom of the Insular Life Building in Makati. It has a 300-seat hall that can be split into three smaller, soundproofed rooms for smaller events.
The Insular Life Building has updated rooms and equipment, a new look for the outside, and a five-story parking garage right next to it. The building is also proud of its Silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, which means that it was built using energy-efficient methods and materials and has energy-efficient building equipment. Less water and energy are used, and less greenhouse gas is released.
Tim Hortons, BPI, Union Bank, and Magenic Manila are just some of the companies that have leased space from Insular Life.
Insular Life was the first and biggest life insurance company in the Philippines. It recently won three major awards from two major award-giving bodies: the Insurance Asia Awards 2017 Domestic Life Insurer Award, the Digital Insurance Initiative Award for its Automated Underwriting System, and the Reader’s Digest Asia Gold Award for the Life Insurance Category. In 2016, it had a consolidated net income of P4.9 billion, a net worth of P43.9 billion, and assets of P129 billion. This was a 172%, 70%, and 22% increase from the year before.
By Rheychell Gomez
Rheychell Gomez, a graduate of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, ventured into journalism with a focus on San Juan's local governance. Her comedic routines delve into the intricacies of living in one of Metro Manila’s smallest cities, highlighting the humor in the everyday with a journalist’s eye for detail.