History of

Architecture 4
American Period
Post War and Republic Years
Modern Period
American Period
(1898)
Arrival of the Americans: Introduction
• After the victory in the Spanish-American War, Philippines was now
part of the United States’ colonial possessions.
• The American military forces rebuilt the archipelago by reshaping the
city of Manila after an imperial image of a well ordered and healthful
tropical city.
• They deployed all its possible resources to promote and build public
architecture and sanitary facilities that signifies the American’s
civilizing mission.
• The Philippines has also established its First Republic under the
leadership of Emilio Aguinaldo, but not for a long time.
• The 51st Iowa Volunteers leaving
the Presidio and heading for the
Philippines in 1898.
Arrival of the Americans: Introduction
• A Filipino-American War broke out as the United States attempted to
establish control over the islands.
• The war lasted for more than 10 years, resulting in the death of more
than 600,000 Filipinos.
• The Philippines was then ruled by 3 military governors appointed by
the president: Gen. Wesley Merritt, Gen. Elwell Otis, and Gen. Arthur
McArthur.
• The early years of American occupation was threatened by a
succession of epidemic diseases attributed to unhygienic practices of
the natives.
Filipino tribesman with their
weapons. A fire consumes a district of Manila. Ruins of a district in Manila.

Ruins of a village after the war.

Injured Filipino soldiers at a American soldiers with a gatling gun.
makeshift hospital.
Philippine-American War, In 25 Devastating Photographs (allthatsinteresting.com)
 General Elwell Otis

General Wesley Merritt General Arthur McArthur

The Cholera Squad

Burning of the cholera-stricken lighthouse neighborhood of

the Tondo district, Manila, 1902, by the health authorities.
Arrival of the Americans: Introduction
• To start with the solution, the use of toilet was introduced in 1902
among the dwellers of the Bahay Kubo in Manila.
• When Americans first came to the Philippines, they were met with
several problems most particularly with issues on housing and
sanitation.
Sanitation and Tropical Hybrid Design
The Kubeta
• It is through the pail conservancy system that a solution was created
to answer the absence of a public sewer system in the city.
• Each household was provided with a wooden bucket that is collected
daily by the municipal waste collection wagons.
• Public toilets were built in congested nipa districts and the
authorities had banned the use of esteros for bathing and washing.
• The establishment of new communal architecture was started
combining the functions of a kubeta, baño, and laundry.
Sanitation and Tropical Hybrid Design
The Sanitary Barrios
• A neighborhood concept that was introduced in 1908, which
permitted nipa houses to be built in blocks of subdivided lots.
• This has a built-in system of surface drainage, public latrine, public
bathhouses, and laundry.
• This also includes public water hydrants to be availed by the
residents free of charge.
• Some of the imprints of these sanitary barrios can still be seen in
some districts of Manila such as Sampaloc, San Lazaro, and Vito Cruz.
Sanitation and Tropical Hybrid Design
The Tsalet
• An evolved form of a typical Filipino Colonial House; a new hybrid
sanitary house.
• A single storey structure that is constructed by either entirely of
wood, or a combination of faro-concrete and wood.
• Living areas are maintained at an elevation a meter above ground,
which is lower that the bahay kubo – to discourage placement of
domestic animals underneath the house.
Sanitation and Tropical Hybrid Design
The Tsalet
• The house is approached by either an L-shaped or T-shaped stairs.
• It has an extended veranda in front which is also a landing porch before
entering the house.
• The interior space was defined by wall partitions which divided it to rooms.
• In 1912, the Bureau of Health drew up schemes of a sanitary urban house,
single detached, semi-detached, row house apartments, and one storey
concrete tsalets.
• Originally rooted from the Swiss “Chalet” which is a housing for the natives
near the Alpine Regions.
Sanitation and Tropical Hybrid Design
The Tsalet
• Laperal House (White House) along Leonard Wood Road of Baguio
City
Sanitation and Tropical Hybrid Design
The Tsalet
• Other examples: the Concepcion chalet in Jaro, Iloilo
Sanitation and Tropical Hybrid Design
The Tsalet
• Other examples: De Leon House of Malolos, Bulacan; some houses in
Camp John Hay in Baguio City
Sanitation and Tropical Hybrid Design
The Tsalet
• Other examples: some houses in Camp John Hay in Baguio City
Sanitation and Tropical Hybrid Design
The Ideal Sanitary House
The Great Fire of Manila
• On 23 May 1903, a great fire consumed the city burning two
thousand native houses.
• This resulted to 8,000 homeless individuals with a total damage
amounting to 2 million dollars which includes commercial and
infrastructures.
• This event has also led the Americans to develop a new concept for
an “Ideal Sanitary House”, which introduced a fire-resistive structure.
Sanitation and Tropical Hybrid Design
The Ideal Sanitary House
• The experiment of materials resulted to a new concept of the Ideal Sanitary
House of 1917.
• A refinement of the “tsalet”, the modular prototype house introduced a
fire-resistive roofing materials composed of diamond shaped roof shingles
molded from concrete, mixed with rice husk and reinforced by wood and
bamboo.
• Its modular component cement floor and wall slabs were implanted with
sawali and woven bamboo.
• This improved further the health condition of the natives by promoting
cleaner hygienic practices.
Sanitation and Tropical Hybrid Design
• Escolta Street in the
1920’s showing some
houses with the model
of the new sanitary
house which is now
more resistive to fire
and earthquake.
American Colonial Infrastructures
• In the early years of the American regime, construction projects were
undertaken by the engineers of the US Army.
• Architect Edgar K. Bourne of New York was appointed as chief of the
Bureau of Architecture and Construction of Public Buildings.
• He designed buildings that mimic the impression of Spanish Colonial
buildings.
• The Spanish Mission Revival was then considered as a transitional
form of architecture in that period.
American Colonial Infrastructures
• Bourne served until 1905 with Arcadio Arellano as an architectural
consultant appointed by the Governor that time.
• Arellano, a locally trained “maestro de obras” (master builder), had
served as an officer in the Engineer Corps of the Revolutionary Army.
• In later years, he would design a number of notable houses and
buildings in various revivalist styles, including the neogothic, neo-
renaissance, and neo-baroque.