Bahay Rene Santos

A lot has happened since the last time i posted here in my blog. I took my medicine course more seriously, I've met new friends and got along old ones, attended seminars and hearings; and now i find myself posting new content in a term when time is precious.

This 2015, i mustered enough guts to come close with heritage houses that i usually pass by, but afraid to know more about them due to the neighborhood. The Rene Santos was one of the houses i'll never forget meeting. I always pass the Bahay Rene Santos when riding a jeepney to school and going home.It just so happens that on a Thursday i had one class in the morning and the whole afternoon for myself. I decided to finally approach this old bahay na bato that I've been ignoring for the last 3 years.  At first, I didn't know how to approach the residents since it was my second time doing it; the first was another house at Loyola st. It was a good thing i met a friendly food stall owner posted outside of what seem to be the garage. I told her my business, about being a student in FEU and my passion for old houses and heritage. She gladly told me a bit of the history and that the owner was at home asleep. I asked when the owner will wake up. She replied that the owner just got home after a long day of drinking; apparently a retired man.

While she advised me to wait for the owner to wake up at 5pm, i couldn't help myself but be fascinated by the good state of the house. Its definitely the first heritage house without a marker ive entered thats tidy, clean and not chopped into a dormitory of different rooms for various families. As i see myself staring at blank space for a few minutes, a man with bushy hair and tattered clothes appeared at the door and descended down the stairs, looking well rested.

Don Roman Santos Building

Hi guys I'm alive and ready to pump up some history back in this rusty dusty blog. There are still some bugs i have fix with the like, share FB buttons down below but the tweet button seems to work so please tweet if you have the time, I appreciate it.

Alright, this my friends is the Don Roman Santos building a fancy 6 storey neoclassic inspired building located at Sta. Cruz, Manila. Usually you'll see this building often if either you're from FEATI or commuters to LRT up to Carriedo station. Now i dont know much of my architecture wits so architects out there, please bear with me. The building possesses ionic pillars, ornamental pediment, complemented by sculptures of roman design. Now you may be wondering why a building with this taste in architecture exist in a place where vendors, snatchers, addicts thrive in? ( Literally its just 2 blocks away in a street under the shadows of the hideous elevated LRT transit line.)

Well every beautiful building has its own humble beginnings, and Roman Santos here started as the Monte de Piedad, the Philippines' first ever savings bank back in the 1880s. It was constructed by the Archdiocese of Manila to facilitate the city for the Galleon Trade as the City of Manila was flourishing economically.

In the turn of the American Era, the Americans expanded the main building to hold more loans, it continued to flourish until the start of World War II when Manila took a turn for the worse. The building survived the war and eventually the Asian Financial Crisis and even to this day loans for the poorest of the poor. By that time, the building was added with 4 more floors, leaving the original edifice with added aesthetics.

The First National Bank Building

Built around 1915, The First National Bank Building (The rectangular building on the right) is only one of the few buildings in Manila that survived World War II The Battle of Manila. The neoclassic facade gives a majestic presence and beauty as such to compete with the Museums of Rizal Park! The first time i saw this building before its current state was left out dilapidated with grime just like its neighbor the El Hogar Filipino Building (left). The current new owner, The Juan Luna E-services seems to know a thing or two about adaptive reuse unlike some private companies who are ignorant enough to belittle heritage buildings demolishing them to make way for their condos and malls all in the name of good business, the new owners are currently renovating and retrofitting the latter as the new home for the call center industry!

This gorgeous building definitely deserves the attention its having; it has been given a second chance to bring back life in the city. Let it be a lesson and a reminder to all of us out there on how important these heritage buildings to us and to the identity of the city. Sometimes in order to be successful in the future, you need  to learn from the past. I can only wish, that another good-hearten owner would do the same to El Hogar and to the rest of the neglected heritage out there. Think how Manila would be, if it retained its post-war beauty...

Then the title of "The Paris of Asia" would not be no more a thing of the past....