MANILA, Philippines -- The latest heritage challenge is at Bauan, Batangas. With expanding bureaucracy, town authorities intend to demolish the municipio and build something larger. Heritage people, however, are hoping that plans can be adjusted to retain important parts of the 1930s building believed to have been designed by Juan Arellano.
The low, wide building's front is enriched with thin closely-placed columns, low reliefs of what look like agricultural allegories and finials similar to those of Manila's Metropolitan Theater. The later massive canopy over the main door spoils the otherwise elegant façade.
Originating in 1920s France, art deco is characterized by geometrical and symmetrical lines. It became all the rage and everywhere, buildings, interiors, furniture, jewelry, clothes, magazine covers, were designed in the style. Rockefeller Center and the Chrysler Building in New York; homes and commercial buildings in Miami Beach, Florida; much of Napier, New Zealand (rebuilt post-earthquake); buildings in Bandung, Indonesia are all art deco.
We also built in art deco and despite war, neglect and renovation, examples of our version are still with us, more or less. The Metropolitan Theater on Liwasang Bonifacio, the greatest of them all, was ruined by World War II, restored by then First Lady Imelda Romualdez-Marcos, and today is again partly a ruin. Jai-Alai Building is gone. Rizal Memorial Stadium is losing its charm with modernization and new construction.
Some buildings in the old financial district, along Taft Avenue and elsewhere in Ermita, Malate and Paco survive-barely. There's one on Pedro Gil still crowned with a graceful frieze. Here and there are endangered art deco fences. One on Pasong Tamô near Buendia guards, maybe just for a few more weeks, a condo on the way up. Badly patched are the Camp Crame fence and another near the College of St. Benilde.
There is hope. Far Eastern University is beautifully cared for, thanks to its Chairperson Lourdes Montinola. The Paternos built the multi-story Orchid Garden Hotel on P. Ocampo Street with their old mansion now lobby and dining room. The Zobels adapted Nielsen Airport Terminal to house the Filipinas Heritage Library. Ermita's Angela Apartments has been sensitively upgraded.
Iloilo City has wakened up to its heritage. RCBC's Calle Real building is restored and work is beginning on the Villanueva Building across the street. Citizens led by Congressman Jerry Treñas and Natasha's Vicki Jardiolin Villa are moving to make Iloilo again "Queen City of the South." Architect Dominic Galicia is bringing together property owners and call centers to return life to the mostly empty pre-war buildings on Escolta and Muelle de la Industria.
The National Cultural Heritage Act protects heritage buildings, but as the Bauan case shows, much remains to be done. In the same way that people learn art and music appreciation, the public-including national and local officials-needs to distinguish between good and bad architecture. Architects, too, have much to learn in the adaptive reuse of old structures, in the use of historical and cultural antecedents and in harmonizing new construction with their surroundings.
Comments are cordially invited, addressed to walalang@mb.com.ph.
