This pattern happened on a smaller scale in the provincial capitals. The Americans built capitol complexes where the provincial capitol building (kapitolyo), jail, court, high school, sports complex, hospital, and library would all be located. The neoclassical style of these buildings was the same as that of government buildings in Manila.
But Intramuros was also affected by this change when a part of its walls were torn down to make room for roads and wharves. The moat that used to protect the walled city was filled in with dirt and sand to keep it clean. The area was then turned into a park, which later turned into a golf course. Still, the walled city kept its own character with its seven churches, schools, government buildings, and homes, some of which were split up and rented to families moving in from the countryside.
Filipino architects were encouraged by the American colonial government to design public and private buildings in Ermita and other suburbs like Sampaloc and Quiapo.
Arcadio Arellano designed the Gota de Leche Building and the Hidalgo House. Antonio Toledo designed the Manila City Hall and the two buildings that make up the Agrifina Circle: the Department of Finance, which is now the Museum of the Filipino People, and the Department of Agriculture (now Museum of Natural History). Neoclassical and Greek revivalist styles, which use doric and ionic columns, were most often used for government buildings.
The most important buildings in terms of architecture were built in the north part of Taft Avenue. The Philippine Normal University was done in 1915. It is at the corner of Taft Avenue and Ayala Boulevard. William Parsons designed this complex, which is a mix of mission revival and neoclassical styles. The neoclassical Manila Central Post Office in Plaza Lawton was built in 1926. Juan Arellano and Tomas Mapua were the architects who made the plans. The Metropolitan Theater, which is also in Plaza Lawton, was built in 1931 and remodeled by Otilio Arellano in 1978. It was done in the art noveau style, which is based on natural forms and has a lot of straight lines and flowing curves. Isabelo Tampinco was in charge of the decorations for the theater. Several colleges and universities, clubs, churches, and residential areas are to the south of Plaza Lawton and Luneta. The Jai Alai Building, designed by architect Welton Becket in 1940, was a good example of modern art deco because of its long horizontal lines, curved shapes, and nautical details. The building made it through World War II, but it was torn down in the year 2000.
In Ermita and Malate, the number of churches and temples went up. In addition to Malate Church, which was built in 1591, and Ermita Church, which was built by Lorenzo Guerrero in 1885, there was the Central Methodist Church, which was built in 1906 by C. B. Ripley, the San Marcelino Church, which was built in 1926 by Andres Luna de San Pedro and Carlos Santos-Viola, and the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple, which was built in the 1920s, and Temple Emil, which was built in 1922. In February and March 1945, as World War II was coming to an end, Manila was burned and shelled. Only the Masonic Temple was not destroyed.
The Americans kept Binondo, Santa Cruz, and Quiapo as the most important business areas in the city center. Escolta, which means “escort,” was the best street in downtown Manila. It ran along the bank of the Pasig River. During the Spanish colonial era, this street, which is less than a kilometer long, was already a busy commercial area. It was full of bazaars and shops that sold only the best goods.
At the corner of Muelle de la Industria and Juan Luna in Binondo, the El Hogar Filipino Building is a great example of the beaux-arts style, which combines elements of neoclassical and renaissance architecture. El Hogar, which was built in 1914 and designed by Ramon Irureta-Goyena and Francisco Perez-Muoz, is priceless because of its beauty and because it shows how the area used to be the center of business. Tagalog building design. The beaux-arts style of the Regina Building in Escolta makes it stand out. Before World War II, most of the top insurance companies rented out the commercial building, which was built in 1915 and designed by Andres Luna de San Pedro and Fernando Ocampo. The old-world charm of the building has been kept by the current owners, who have taken care of both the inside and outside.
The bahay na bato was changed to fit the needs of trade in Binondo, Santa Cruz, Quiapo, and even some parts of Tondo. The ground floor was no longer the zaguan, or hallway, of the kalesa. Instead, it was turned into shops and a warehouse, while the upper floor was still used as the living area. This kind of house was called an accesoria. The functional design of the accesoria is still used in many modern buildings in Binondo and Santa Cruz, with businesses on the ground floor and homes on the upper floors.
Up until Rizal Avenue, these bahay na bato on Escolta were turned into commercial buildings. La Confianza was a grocery store that sold imported goods, and La Campana was known for its sweets. Botica Boie was a German pharmacy that became a drug store and soda fountain. It had the first revolving door in the country. Puerta del Sol and La Estrella del Norte sold quality textiles and jewels. The newest clothes, shoes, and makeup were sold in new buildings like the high-end, concrete high-rise Heacock’s Department Store.
In the first half of the 20th century, changes in the economy and society made people want different kinds of architecture. Younger Filipino architects in Manila, like Andres Luna de San Pedro, Pablo Antonio, and Juan Nakpil, moved away from the neoclassical style of the beaux-arts School and started making new commercial office buildings like the 1928 Perez-Samanillo Building on Escolta, apartments like the 1937 Bel-Air on Roxas Boulevard, and movie theaters like the 1930s Cine Ideal.
Andres Luna de San Pedro’s Crystal Arcade on Escolta was a good example of the art deco style, which was popular in the 1930s and was a mix of handicrafts and machine-age themes. It was home to the Manila Stock Exchange and high-end shops with air conditioning, which was rare even in tall buildings at the time. The Crystal Arcade didn’t make it through the war. In the 1960s, Carlos Arguelles built the Philippine National Bank (PNB) Building to replace it. Tagalog building design. At that time, the PNB Building showed how precast construction and prefabrication worked.
The center of Manila was around Rizal Avenue in the district of Santa Cruz. During its busiest time, from the 1920s to the early 1940s, the street was full of specialty shops, hotels, theaters, and offices. During these decades, concrete buildings took the place of the bahay na bato. On the main street, art deco and neoclassical movie theaters like the Avenue, State, and Grand Theater took up most of the space.
Quiapo was home to the Ocampos, Tuasons, and Aranetas until about the middle of the 20th century, when pollution and too many people caused it to fall into disrepair. Some streets in Quiapo still have houses with traditional arcades that provide shade for people walking by and houses with courtyards, just like the houses in Intramuros before it was destroyed in 1945. The fully enclosed courtyard of an old Manila house is still there in the Paterno mansion, which is also on F. R. Hidalgo Street.
Both the new middle class and the wealthy wanted to live in cities with small homes for their small families. So, a new kind of house grew up in the suburbs of the city, which were getting bigger. This type of house was made of wood and was called a “chalet.” It was smaller than a “bahay na bato” and had a lot less decoration. The chalet was raised about one or two meters off the ground and only had one level. Tagalog building design. It usually had stone stairs in front that led to a porch that could be connected to a balcony that went all the way around the house. Other areas, like Malate and Sampaloc, did the same thing and built a lot of chalets in the same style. The chalet on P. Guevara Street in San Juan City, which has two staircases in front, is a good example. This used to be a house, but now it is a restaurant.
Between February and March 1945, at the end of World War II, more than half of Manila was destroyed, and many of the buildings were never rebuilt. Some government buildings, like the Manila Post Office, Manila City Hall, Legislative Building, Agriculture and Finance Buildings, were rebuilt. But the city’s center, which was made up of Intramuros, Santa Cruz, and parts of Quiapo, Ermita, Malate, Paco, Santa Mesa, and Pandacan, was turned into ruins and has only just started to recover.
After the war, the International Style was used to fix up damaged buildings and build new landmarks.
From the rubble on Escolta, Luis Araneta, Rufino Antonio, and Juan Nakpil designed new high rises.
The National Press Club Building at the end of Jones Bridge was finished by Angel Nakpil. The GSIS Building, the Veterans Memorial Building, Manila International Airport, and the DENR (formerly Bureau of Lands) building were all designed by Federico Ilustre, who was the consulting architect for the Bureau of Public Works. The Quezon Memorial Monument on Elliptical Road in Quezon City is another thing that people know Ilustre for.
The International Style became known for the use of brise soleil, which are things that block the sun. Even though this style was used before World War II, architects like Pablo Antonio, who designed the Capitan Luis Gonzaga Building, kept using it because it worked well in the tropical climate of the country. In addition to sun breakers, vertical and horizontal details were used. This can be seen in the World Health Organization Building by Alfredo Luz, the Philam Life Building by Carlos Arguelles, and the Commercial Bank and Trust Company by Jose Zaragoza, all of which are in Manila.
Pasay was an old town east of Manila. It was named after Princess Pasay, who was the daughter of Rajah Soliman. Like Ermita, Pasay had rows of chalets and two-story bahay na batos. Famous people like Manuel Quezon and Claro M. Recto lived in these homes. Its two places to have fun were the Manila Polo Club and Harrison Park. The sea was only a few blocks away. Tagalog building design. It was a very nice area until the late 1960s, when it started to get worse.
The first step the national government took to make the area better was to clean up the land so that the Cultural Center Complex could be built there. The reclaimed area was in the Brutalist style, which is known for heavy-looking, fortress-like buildings with a lot of exposed concrete on the outside. This style was made popular by Leandro Locsin, who is a National Artist for Architecture. This reclaimed area in Pasay is now a good example of it. Aside from the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the Folk Arts Theater, Philippine International Convention Center, Philippine Plaza Hotel (now Sofitel), and Philcite are all great examples of buildings that are meant to look big and are made of rough concrete, glass, and bricks. Tagalog building design. In Pasay City, the SM Group of Companies is still taking back land to build its own center with condos, offices, malls, a church, a museum, hotels, and an international school.
On the other hand, when people from the countryside came to the city looking for work, they brought with them the barong-barong, which most people find ugly but is undeniably raw and the result of improvisation and creativity. A barong-barong, which is an urban shack, is about 10 to 15 square meters. Most of the time, it is built on land that belongs to the government or to someone who lives far away. A barong barong is a simple house with only one room. Its walls are made of plywood or polystyrene held together with thick, rusty nails, and its roof is made of galvanized iron sheets that have rusted and sometimes turned black. Most of the time, materials come from houses that have been abandoned or destroyed.
The barong-barong is unstable and prone to fire and damage, just like the bahay kubo. But even though there are natural dangers, shantytowns can last for decades and often grow into the areas around them. The national government has tried over and over to solve this problem by building cheap houses like tenements and giving out home lots like the Dagohoy Estate in San Andres Bukid, Manila. The Bagong Lipunan Improvement of Sites and Services, also called the BLISS community, was started by the Marcos government. This housing project, which helped poor and low-income Filipinos, was continued by the next administration. Tagalog building design. Success has been limited, though, because informal settlements are still a big problem in Metro Manila and the provinces close by.
Most of the people who lived in Ermita and Malate before the city’s problems got worse moved out and built new homes elsewhere. Makati was first called San Pedro de Macati. Before the early 1900s, it was just a swamp that was mostly ignored. It was made during the years after World War II. The runways and airport of Nielson were turned into main streets. In the 1950s and 1960s, the neighborhoods of San Lorenzo, Bel-Air, Magallanes, and Urdaneta were built. Rich families in Manila moved to the exclusive North and South Forbes Park, which is high-end and well-known. As the number of people living in Makati grew, supermarkets, arcades, restaurants, and theaters opened to meet their needs. Along with these businesses, the Makati Central Business District grew.
The International Style was built around its simplicity. Cubist shapes and materials like concrete, steel, and glass made up this plain and functional style. In Makati, “the Insular Life Building by Cesar Concio on Ayala Avenue had a curving facade covered with vertical projections set close to each other to hide the curtain wall behind it” (Lico 2008, 432). Both the Meralco Building and the San Miguel Headquarters, both in Ortigas Center, Pasig, were designed by Jose Ma. Zaragoza and Francisco Maosa in the same style. When these famous buildings were built, it was a sign that business districts would start to grow outside of Makati. Tagalog building design. Aside from the International Style, which had become the favorite of architects, traditional and modern styles were still used to make Brutalist elements. v’s Pacific Star Building and the Asian Institute of Management, both in Makati, the Central Bank of the Philippines in Manila, MWSS Headquarters in Quezon City, and Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan stood in harmony with other International Style buildings.
Tagalog Architecture
Meralco Building, Pasig City, 2012 (Laine Cedillo)
Since the 1990s, both old and young architects have used postmodernist ideas to design buildings. Tagalog building design. Postmodernism is different from modernism in that it accepts ambiguity and contradiction. In the pseudo-classicist style, Rogelio Villarosa’s Tektite Tower, Renaissance Tower, and AIC Gold Tower use colors, ornaments, historical styles, and a mix of other styles. In the city of Makati, the Enterprise Center by Wong Tung from 1998 and the Shang Grand Tower by Palmer, Turner, and Recio Casas from 2006 have art deco details that stand out among the more simple buildings in the area.
In 1992, the Bases Conversion and Development Act (RA 7227), also called the Bases Conversion and Development Act, said that 440 hectares of the Fort Bonifacio military base in Taguig City could be turned into a business, shopping, and living center. So, the Bonifacio Global City (BGC) has moved to Fort Bonifacio, which is now an extension of the Makati Central Business District. BGC is where high-end condos like One McKinley Place, Serendra, and Pacific Plaza Towers are located. As planned by the New York-based firm CAZA, office buildings like NetOne and W City Center dominate the skyline of Taguig. All-glass buildings with aluminum frames and steel curtain walls are common in BGC.
Bonifacio Global City skyline, 2016 (wikimediacommons/Mjdiamzon)
Bonifacio High Street, on the other hand, has places for people to eat, buy books, and shop. Private and government institutions, like the St. Luke’s Medical Center and the Supreme Court of the Philippines, are moving into BGC, which is making it grow even more. Tagalog building design. There are satellite campuses of colleges and universities in the area. BGC also has areas with a mix of uses, like the Forbes Town Center, which has low-density residential buildings, shops, and recreation centers.
BGC and other “new cities” are a result of the rapid growth of cities’ populations and the lack of land in them. For the wealthy, condos are being built, and for middle-class and lower-middle-class workers, multistory apartments are being built. Tagalog building design. In recent years, the vast pasturelands and rice fields of Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite, and Laguna have been turned into sites for mass housing projects for government workers and private workers. More are planned for the future as more plots of land are given to foreign and domestic industrial and commercial investors.
RELATED POSTS
Post navigation