Escolta Street
monument to the Spanish Catholic empire and a marker of Chinese attachments is the street named
Escolta.
Escolta, after all, is one of the oldest streets in Manila, and once the center of commerce, which simply
meant it was the buzziest street in the city.
Once upon a time, before the thing they called the internet, Filipinos could already connect to other
parts of the world on this street. They could eat at a Chinese restaurant, buy spices from Latin America,
or try on European shoes for size. TV and film studios once called Escolta home. It even once held the
tranvia, an actual rail line that brought people from one part of the city to another in record time – now
only a distant dream in these traffic-choked streets.
First United Building
With a market of counterculture curiosities on the first floor, the building pays tribute to its past as the
bustling Berg Department Store. On the same floor, there’s a quiet, cozy coffee shop called The Den,
where the resident cat will command you with a look to open the door for it when it accidentally locks
itself out.
Regina Building
Opposite First United is the Regina Building, the one they call the Dowager. Unlike its neighbor, there
are no hip coffee shops or co-working spaces here. On the contrary, its building directory lists a staid
collection of inhabitants: logistics firms, cargo services, food trading companies, banks. One can imagine
it’s a building populated by very serious people – but even on a weekday morning, hardly any humans
can be seen walking in or out.
Burke Building
On Escolta and Burke Street intersection, it’s perhaps best known to those who frequent the area for
the Mini Stop right by its entrance. The convenience store becomes one of the main sources of alcohol
whenever the Escolta Block party rages. Meanwhile, architecture nerds will note that the building was
also the site of the country’s first elevator and that it was designed by Filipino architect Tomas Arguelles.
Teoff Centre
Further down the street from the Burke Building is the Teoff Centre, also known as the Natividad
Building. It’s another cream-colored neoclassical marvel, less remarkable, but more inviting at the same
time. Noticeable on the building’s facade is the sign of a shop called CBD Furniture whose tagline, oddly
enough, says “your home will look 10 years younger!” – a perfect example of the dissonance that echoes
all along Escolta.
Madrigal Building
marble entrance, a patterned iron gate, and the building’s name rendered in Art Deco font. It’s dim
inside, and like many of the buildings on Escolta, uninviting. There are customs brokerage companies,
accounting firms, logistics and maritime services – and an air of glamour as faded as the signs on its
exterior are bright.
Calvo Building
Calvo Building was erected in 1938 as an office building but in November 1944, during World War II, it
was used by the Japanese Imperial Forces and later destroyed in the Battle of Manila. It was rebuilt in
1946, and the museum was opened in 1994. Somewhere in between, it became the first headquarters
of GMA Network before it was GMA Network.
Today, it still has one of the few remaining old-school elevators in the city, making the ride up to the
museum feel like even more of a time warp.
Panpisco Building
On a regular day, Panpisco Building projects a subtle eeriness, perhaps from the mannequins dressed in
construction gear standing by the windows (Panpisco is a safety technologies company), or the visible
emptiness of the building’s upper floors.
Capitol Theater
Designed by National Artist for Architecture Juan Nakpil, it was built in the 1930s, allowing Filipinos to
watch both films and live performances. As moviegoers’ habits changed and audiences started going to
in-mall cinemas, the Capitol shut down and was forgotten – until news of its planned demolition came
to light in 2018. Now a ruin, the Capitol Theater has fallen so far from its former glory – but the
elaborate Art Deco grillwork and bas-reliefs can still be seen.
Commercial Bank and Trust Company Building
Built in 1969, it’s one of the newer buildings on this street filled with pre-war monuments, and perhaps
the most intriguing building on this side of Escolta – with dark windows like that betray nothing of
what’s inside. A visible sign says there’s a bank that operates there, but no entrances or exits can be
seen – and security guards are loathe to reveal ways in, perhaps because they know that it’s a sight best
beheld from outside.
Additional Infos: https://thelasallian.com/2014/09/16/reviving-the-queen-of-streets/
History
During Spanish times, the Escolta, less than a kilometer in length, was a sleepy, awning-covered street in
which during the traditional siesta time, looked like a path between two rows of tents.
The coming of the American troops after the Spanish-American war ended transformed it almost
overnight into a wild, noisy jumble of honky-tonks. Governor Taft soon changed all this when one of his
earliest official acts was to bar all saloons from the Escolta and it became a respectable shopping
thoroughfare once again.
Salon de Pertierra, established in March 1896 by a Spaniard named Pertierra, was the first movietheater house in the Philippines. Initially built as a phonograph parlor beneath the Casino España
building along Calle Perez in No. 12 Escolta, this theater was designed in preparation for Pertierra’s first
movie show in Manila in time for the Christmas season in 1896 however it was not until January 1897
when the first four movies (French) were shown. They were silent films with subtitles accompanied by a
piano or orchestra. Below, Spanish and Filipino together in a rare photo taken in 1849 at one of
Pertierra’s studios on Carriedo.
The American Bazaar, Manila’s first American-style department store founded in 1898 by Isaac “Ikey”
Beck on the Pasaje Perez and later moved to the Escolta and renamed Beck’s at 91 Escolta. Interestingly,
I recently ran across an article that revealed my grandfather, Julio Lopez Busto, worked under Mr. Beck
at his import/export firm.
The Capitol Theater, designed by Nakpil in 1935 in the art deco style depicts Filipinas in native garb set
within a tropical landscape. It sat 800 and had an unusual double balcony. It must have contracted to
run Columbia Pictures because I remember seeing a lot of “B” westerns there. On the other hand, the
Lyric was more of a Warner Bros. venue. The side of the building connected to the Crystal Arcade.
Unfortunately, what the destruction of the Battle of Manila did not do, the years of neglect have
successfully transformed this beautiful example of art deco into the current eyesore.
The Lyric Theater sat 1600 people and was designed by Pablo Antonio, the foremost Filipino modernist
architect of his time who also designed the Ideal, Life, Galaxy, and Scala theaters.
Full Documentary: http://www.lougopal.com/manila/?p=83