PAUL ANGELO D.

SANTOS

ARCHITECTURE 3B

VIEW OF INFLUENCES THE EARLY ARCHITECTURAL STYLES HAD

INTRODUCED IN THE NEW WORLD

Throughout most of the Spanish colonial period, the Philippine economy was based
on the Galleon Trade, which began in 1565 between Manila and Acapulco, Mexico. Trade
between Spain and the Philippines went through Mexico, then over the Caribbean Sea and the
Atlantic Ocean to Spain. Between the 17th and 18th centuries, Manila grew to become Asia's
most important trading metropolis. Emilio Aguinaldo declared the Philippines independent of
Spain and proclaimed himself president on June 12, 1898. On August 13, 1898, Americans
took possession of Manila during the Battle of Manila. The Treaty of Paris was signed in
December 18981, ending the Spanish-American War and selling the Philippines to the United
States for $20 million. The Spanish rule in the Philippines formally ended with this treaty,
after 333 years of dominance, and was replaced by the Americans, who stayed for 48 years.

Equally important to the discussion is the arrival of the Americans in the Philippines.
The most visible American influence in the Philippines today can be found in the Philippine
government and economic system. Throughout American control, the main purpose was to
promote education, public health, democratic, and capitalistic concepts to the Philippines,
which they accomplished. The English language was introduced and spread during American
colonization through the newly constructed public school system. As schools, marketplaces,
highways, ports, government office buildings, and hospitals sprouted up, the landscape
altered.

Likewise, The City Beautiful Movement was a North American architectural and
urban planning reform concept that flourished in the 1890s and 1900s with the goal of
establishing beautifying and monumental grandeur in cities. The movement's architectural
style was influenced mostly by contemporaneous Beaux Arts and neoclassical structures,
which highlighted the importance of order, dignity, and harmony. In general, City Beautiful
supporters tried to improve their city through beauty.

The Pensionado Act, on the other hand, is Act Number 854 of the Philippine
Commission, which Governor-General William Howard Taft signed on August 26, 1903. It
developed a scholarship program for Filipino students to study in the United States. The first
batch of Pensionados included 103 students. The program's origins can be traced back to
pacification attempts during the Philippine–American War.

In the same way, colonial officials supported first-generation Filipino architects to

study architecture and engineering in the United States. Together with the Maestros de Obras,
Arcadio Arellano and Tomas Arguelles, they blend Beaux-arts aspects such as aesthetic
proportions and optical corrections with the influence of modernity and the architectural ideas
of usefulness and honesty.

Afterward, the second-generation architects, like Andres Lunda de San Pedro,

Fernando Ocampo, Pablo Antonio, and Juan Nakpil, emerged in the late 1920s and 1930s and
pioneered the art deco style, which was defined by extravagant exoticism and embellishment.
as seen on the exterior of the ELPO Building, Metropolitan Theater, Bautista-Nakpil Pylon,
Mapua House, and Santos House

Additionally, one famous architectural style flourished during the 1920’s to 1930’s.
Art Deco, which often showcase simple, clean shapes, usually with a “streamlined” look;
ornament that is geometric or stylized from representational forms such as florals, animals,
and sunrays; and use of man-made substances, including plastics, vita-glass, and reinforced
concrete, often combined with such natural materials as jade, silver, ivory, and chrome,
became a significant style in Western Europe and the United States throughout the 1930s. Art
Deco architecture is distinguished by its sleek, linear, generally rectangular geometric forms
that are ordered and broken up by curving ornamental accents.

The Capitol Theater by Juan Nakpil, the First United Building by Andres Luna de San
Pedro, and the Far Eastern University main building by Pablo Antonio are all popular Art
Deco structures in the Philippines. The Manila Metropolitan Theater, which is currently
undergoing repair, is arguably the most prominent Art Deco landmark in Manila.