Category Archives: PLACES OF INTEREST

China Banking Corporation Building (Binondo, Manila)

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The magnificent, seven-storey China Banking Corporation (China Bank) Building in Binondo, originally designed by German architect Julius Arthur Niclaus Gabler Gumbert (also the designer of the Yutivo Hardware Building in Binondo and the San Miguel Brewery Building, now the New Executive Building of the Malacanang Complex) in the Neo-Classical fashion, utilizing a variation of the Beaux-Arts style.

China Banking Corporation Building

It was built from 1923 to 1924 as the head office of China Bank. Originally it had five storeys but it was later extended to seven. During the Japanese Occupation, it was used as a headquarters of the Japanese and, during the Battle for Manila in 1945, was burned by the Japanese and destroyed.

The restored building’s Neo-Classical facade

After the war, it repaired and again used as the office of the bank in July 1945. The building served as the bank’s head office until 1969, when China Bank moved its key operations to Makati. On March 14, 2018, to mark the 100th anniversary in 2020, China Bank decided to restore building and the Binondo Heritage Restoration Project team, led by SVP Alexander Escucha, was tasked with the job. For the restoration, they engaged the services of heritage architect and author Manuel Noche (Noche + Architects), former secretary of the Heritage Conservation Society which advocates for the restoration and renewal of the Binondo area.

A row of fluted Corinthian pilasters

Much of the construction work, to make the building LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, the widely used green building rating system in the world) compliant, required extensive structural, architectural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and insulation work, aimed to strengthen the building, make it energy efficient, and bring it up to modern building codes and safety standards.

Reliefs of festoons in the shape of garlands and wreaths

On April 04, 2019, construction started. All the floors were retrofitted with a Japanese technology of rubber dampeners, the first of its kind in the country.  A commissioned hydrological study showed that the lobby was below the Pasig River’s level at high tide, so a modern pipe system and a cement barrier was installed in the ground floor.

The arched arcade

The original grills and arches, previously walled in for the last 70 years, were meticulously restored, giving the refreshed building an elegant and nostalgic vibe.  Inside, the high ceiling, beautiful granite floor, and natural light streaming in from the arches opened up the space and made it look grander.  Professionally designed exterior lights were installed to light up the building at night.

National Historical Commission of the Philippines plaque

On August 14, 2020, the restored façade and ground floor were unveiled, just in time for China Bank’s centennial anniversary and, on December 17, 2020, was declared by the National Museum of the Philippines as an Important Cultural Property.  On January 31, 2021, the Binondo Business Center (BBC) Cash Department was officially opened at the lobby and, on December 22, 2021, a historical marker from the National Historical Commission of the Philippines was unveiled.

National Museum of the Philippines plaque designating the building as an “Important Cultural Property”

The China Bank Museum, curated by Marian Pastor Roces, was also built at the fourth floor (which formerly housed the executive offices) for the public to appreciate the business and culture of banking through memorabilia, art, and mementoes.

AUTHOR’S NOTES:

The corner facing façade of the building has an arcade lined with semicircular arches, reaching up to the mezzanine level, with corbel keystones.  Above the cornice are rows of fluted Corinthian pilasters up to the fifth level and flanking rectangular windows topped by triangular pediments. Below some of the windows are reliefs of festoons in the form of garlands and wreaths.  The roof cornice is lined with dentil moldings.

China Banking Corporation (China Bank) Building: Dasmarinas cor. Juan Luna Sts., Binondo, Manila. Tel: 2247-5388.

Old HSBC Building (Binondo, Manila)

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The former, now century-old Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation ((HSBC) Building, situated just before the El Hogar Filipino Building at Juan Luna Street, going towards the Pasig River, was designed in the then prevailing Neo-Classical Revival Style seen in many office buildings of the era by British architect G.H. Hayward (who worked out of Hong Kong) and built, from 1921 to 1922, by contractor Oscar F. Campbell.

The former HSBC Building

The building was inaugurated on September 22, 1922 with Acting Governor General of the Philippines Charles Emmett Yeater doing the honors.

Check out “El Hogar Filipino Building”

HSBC, which established its first branch at a former wooden building along Rosario Street, Binondo on November 11, 1875, is the first and oldest foreign international financial institution in the Philippines.  It was, very much, a vital force in the Philippine economy, helping finance the sugar industry and the building of railways, among others.

The five-storey, concrete-encased steel structure, with its unique double finial architectural feature which highlights its corner main entrance, stands on a 10,706 sq. m. lot.  It had 20-inch armored concrete walls reinforced by two networks of twisted steel bars and treasury vaults with 1 m. (40 in.) thick encasing walls. The ground floor had 7 m. (23 ft.) high ceilings while upper floors had ceilings as high as 4.9 m. (16 ft.).

The buildings lower floors were then occupied by HSBC, while the upper floors were leased out to Smith Bell & Co. Ltd., representative of Sun Life Insurance of Canada, among others.  After World War II, the building housed the British Consulate from 1946 to the1960s as well as the William H. Quasha Law Office. When Citibank moved its business from the FNCB Building to Makati. Thereafter, HSBC followed suit and vacated the building and moved to Makati in 1971.

For many years, the former HSBC Building was in a state of neglect. Renamed the Hamilton Building, it was, for many years, the bodega of a lighting fixtures supplier.  Its facade dingy, with almost a century’s worth of grime, graffiti and gunk and its main entrance door was blocked by street people who seemed to have camped in the premises.

When Noble Place, adjacent to the former HSBC Building, broke ground on November 2014, and it seemed like the old, abandoned and derelict building was next. In March 2017, conservation groups were alerted that the windows of the building were being removed.

The main entrance

However, the new owner assured heritage advocates that he appreciated heritage buildings and would not demolish the edifice, revealing that he plans to adaptively reuse the structure through retrofitting and restoration: partly as a restaurant (now the modern artistic bistro – Grand Café 1919) on the ground floor, and the rest of the floors will be office spaces for lease.

Though the interiors were redecorated, the 7 m. high ceiling of the bank’s former lobby, the intricate grille windows and the columns’ Corinthian capitals were retained.  A replica of the commemorative plaque originally found at the building’s main entrance was enhanced in polychrome. The Neo-Classical façade, which lends an air of timeless elegance to the building’s exterior, was scrubbed up and repainted.

Former HSBC Building: 117 Juan Luna cor. Valentin St. (formerly Callejon San Gabriel), Binondo, Manila 1006.

Pacific Commercial Company Building (Binondo, Manila)

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The historic, five-storey Pacific Commercial Company Building, also known as the  Juan Luna Building, Juan Luna Plaza, the First National City Bank (now Citibank) Building and the Ayala Building, was built in the 1920s. Designed by American architects Murphy, McGill and Hamlin of New York City and Shanghai, it was built at a cost of two million pesos, finished by July 1922 and inaugurated on November 13, 1922.

Pacific Commercial Company Building

Later bought by Enrique Zobel, the building was known as the “Ayala Building” from 1940 to 1959. In 2007, LBC Properties Inc. led a renovation of the building. The First National City Bank also occupied the building.

In 2009, the building was bought by businessman Carlos Araneta who planned to the building to host a business process outsourcing company. The building underwent renovation in 2012 and was meant to be named as the Juan Luna e-Services Building. The facade of the building was preserved. However lack of investors hindered Araneta’s plan and the Juan Luna Building was purposed as a mixed-used building that also serves as a living museum.

Historical plaque installed by the National Historical Commission in 2017

Past midnight of May 28, 2018, a fire broke out at the nearby Land Management Bureau Building. By 8 AM (PST +8:00), the fire has reached the Juan Luna Building and the fire affected the third floor and portions of the fourth floor.  The fire, put out around 4 PM, also affected the 150 Plaza Cervantes Building, the Moraga Mansion and the National Archives of the Philippines office (although the agency stated that no historical documents were burnt since it keeps these in their offices in Paco and Ermita). Due to the timing of the start of the fire, the incident is suspected to be caused by arson.

Occupying an approximately 1,800 sq. m. (19,000 sq. ft.), irregularly shaped corner lot adjacent to El Hogar, it has a frontage of 43 m. (141 ft.), along General Luna St., and 46 m. (151 ft.) along Muelle de la Industria, along the Pasig River.

Check out “El Hogar Filipino Building”

The building’s design is derived from the trademark architectural features set by the International Banking Corporation of New York for its overseas branches. The bank’s prototype, made up of a row of colossal columns in antis, was faithfully reproduced for its Manila headquarters. The ground floor, with arched openings with fanlights emphasized by stones forming the arch, was fully rusticated to effect a textured finish.  Lintels, resting on consoles, adorned the main doors.

Six three-storey high, engaged Ionic columns, dominating the south and west facades above the ground floor, end in an entablature topped by a cornice and are flanked by a pair of pilasters on both fronts. The slightly indented fifth floor is also topped by an entablature crowned by strip of anthemion.

Pacific Commercial Company Building: Juan Luna St. cor. Muelle de la Industria, Binondo, Manila.

El Hogar Filipino Building (Binondo, Manila)

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The El Hogar Filipino Building (Spanish: Edificio El Hogar Filipino), also known simply as El Hogar, was an early skyscraper in the Philippines. Built sometime between 1911 and 1914, it was designed by Spanish-Filipino engineer Don Ramón José de Irureta-Goyena Rodríguez and architect Francisco Perez-Muñoz in the Beaux-Arts style, its architecture reflecting elements of Neoclassical and Renaissance styles.  Opened on December 2014, it was one of the first buildings in Manila built entirely out of concrete.

El Hogar Filipino Building

Right across Juan Luna Street, on its northern front, is Pacific Commercial Company Building (commonly known as the First National City Bank Building, it was built in 1922), another important edifice, and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Building on its rear.

Check out “Pacific Commercial Company Building” and “Old HSBC Building”

The four-storey building, by the Pasig River, was built as a wedding present of Don Antonio Melian y Pavia, a Spanish businessman who was titled as the third Conde de Peracamps, to his bride Doña Margarita Zóbel y de Ayala, who was a sister of  patriarch Don Enrique Zóbel de Ayala.

Don Antonio was born on May 21, 1879 in Las Palmas in the Canary Islands in Spain. From Spain, he sailed to Peru in 1903 where he held posts in the insurance company La Previsora and in the Casino Español de Lima. In 1907, he first set foot in Manila and, on June that same year, married Don Enrique Zóbel de Ayala‘s sister Doña Margarita Zóbel y de Ayala at San Agustin Church.  In 1910, he sailed from Peru back to the Philippines and established the El Hogar Filipino and the Filipinas Compañía de Seguros together with his brothers-in-law Enrique and Fernando Zóbel y de Ayala.

The El Hogar housed the Melián business empire, such as the Filipinas Compañía de Seguros (the first local-owned fire insurance company), Tondo de Beneficiencia, Casa de España, Casa de Pensiones, and Sociedad El Hogar Filipino, a financing cooperative and lending company. Other tenants of the El Hogar include Ayala y Compañía, Sociedad Lizárraga Hermanos, and Smith, Bell and Company (a shipping company). In the 1920s, after the completion of its own building at the foot of the Jones Bridge in Plaza Moraga, a short walk from the El Hogar, the Filipinas Compañía de Seguros moved out of the El Hogar.

Check out “The Revitalized Jones Bridge”

It survived World War II (it only suffered minor damages during the Battle of Manila in 1945) and a number of earthquakes and is one of two remaining American-era structures in the area facing the Pasig River. In the post-war years, Sociedad El Hogar Filipino closed down, along with other Melián businesses, leaving only the Filipinas Compañía de Seguros. Because of this, the Meliáns sold the El Hogar to the Fernandez family, and the El Hogar was rented out to other companies, mostly customs brokerage firms with few residential tenants. It also became the shooting location of movies, TV shows and fashion and advertising shoots.  Some decades ago, the building was finally abandoned as an office building and fell into neglect and decay.

On February 2014, news involving the El Hogar sparked when it was reported that it was sold to The Ritz Premiere Corporation, a Chinese-Filipino real estate developers, which reported that it will demolish the El Hogar because of the building’s stability, and be turned into a condominium. By November, G.I. sheets fenced up the El Hogar Building, seemingly being prepared for demolition.

The news spread like a wildfire throughout heritage conservationists (who wrote to both the city government of Manila and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, or NHCP, to stop the demolition of the El Hogar), cultural advocates, and ordinary citizens alike. Because of this, a petition to stop the demolition was created. The Ritz Premiere Corporation said that they do not have plans of demolishing the El Hogar but will, instead, use it as a warehouse.   The NHCP issued a cease and desist order and attempted to purchase the iconic building.  However, negotiations were halted when NHCP and The Ritz could not agree with the price.  The building’s status is still uncertain.

Some of the building’s interesting features are its two garden courtyards and its unique mirador (balcony) where one can see the Pasig River and the southern part of Manila which includes the walled city of Intramuros, Ermita, and Malate.  El Hogar’s magnificently ornate grand staircase, considered as one of the most ornate in the city, has a sculpted mythical griffin as its base and bears Antonio’s and Margarita’s initials. However, on July 6, 2014, the magnificent and intricate grille work of the building’s grand staircase were seen being loaded to a truck belonging to a building contractor.

The value of the El Hogar Filipino Building is its architecture.  A representation of American period design, materials and construction methods, the building is a representation of the architecture of business establishments of that era. It also has a collective value as one of the significant structures within the historic Binondo district and Escolta Street, along the cultural landscape of the Pasig River.

El Hogar Filipino Building: cor. Juan Luna St. and Calle Muelle dela Industría, Binondo, Manila.

Escolta Museum (Manila)

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Escolta Museum

One of the highlights of our Binondo Heritage Walk was our visit to the reopened (after the easing of COVID-19 guidelines) Escolta Museum at the mezzanine of the Calvo Building.

Check out “Calvo Building”

Calvo Building

The place to be if you are a history buff and a fan of Old Manila, this quaint museum, established in 1994, showcases the bygone era of the most elegant district of old Manila through its permanent exhibit entitled “Bote’t, Diyaryo, Extraordinaryo.”

L-R: Mr. Diego Gabriel Torres (Renacimiento Manila president) and our guide Mr. Stephen John A. Pamorada of The Heritage Collective

Immediately upon climbing a narrow stairway from the lobby, you will find a small room displaying historic news clippings from old newspaper publications (El Renacimiento, Filipinas,  Republica Filipina, etc.), journals and magazines dating back to the twilight of Spanish rule and the nascent years of America’s occupation.

Newspaper Clippings

It includes an 1899 newspaper showing that even then, Rizal was already regarded as a hero and martyr.

The author

Jandy

On display at the long hallway are memorable, fascinating and nostalgic artifacts and pieces such as old photographs of socialites and personalities; artifacts, manuscripts, ticket receipts from boutiques (Syvel’s, Heacocks’s, Hamilton Brown, etc.); Filipino music posters; and postcards of Carnaval de Manila beauty queens.

Manila Carnival Postcards of Beauty Quuens

There are also old labels; memos and newspaper advertisements (imported cars, sporting equipment, shoes, shoes, empty bottles, silver spoons, phonographs, radio sets, etc.) mostly from businesses that used to hold address in Escolta.

Print advertisements of stores in Escolta from 1910s to 1950s

Print advertisement of Calvo Building tenants during the Japanese Occupation (194-44, right) and during the post war era (1950s  to 1960s, left)

Enclosed glass shelves display late nineteenth century to pre-World War II bottles (milk, soda, medicine, and alcoholic beverage) of all shapes and sizes, partly a result of conscientious bottle recycling prompted by the lack of local bottle makers (Philippine glassmaking only began in 937 with the bottling plant of San Miguel Brewery, the first in the country, initially producing tall, slim, moss green beer bottles).

From 1917 to 1933, empty bottles and jars made up one-third of the imported glassware (including tableware, mirrors , windows and plate glass, eyeglasses and lamp chimneys) reaching the Philippines. When purchasing cooking oil, fish sauce, vinegar, carabao milk , kerosene or locally distilled liquor, housewives had to present containers.

Milk bottles

Dark green bottles usually held gin or the popular anise wine (with one version stamped La Tondena) while cobalt blue bottles ( meant strictly for external use) held poisons, acids, essences and light-sensitive compounds.

Eventually, the latter became containers for laxatives, salts and Blue Waltz, an archaic fragrance bottled along the Pasig River. One of the best known pieces in this display is the 1920s Ginebra bottle, whose label art was designed by no other than National Artist Fernando Amorsolo.

Manila druggists, like their European counterparts, displayed apothecaries with colored water in their windows and sold patent medicines in cheaply made amber aquamarine, green or clear bottles stamped with their brands and cities of origin.

Ginger beer clay bottles

In the early 1900s, Tansan, a Japanese drink brand company, introduced their capped, bomb-shaped beverage of charged and soda water embossed with their brand name (now the local word for bottle cap).

Soft drink bottles

Not all bottles were made of glass. Thick, cream-colored ceramic containers, sometimes sporting broad, golden brown hands across the rim and shoulders, were used for beer well into the late 1800s by Scottish and English breweries while previous beverages such as rum, whiskey and ginger beer were stored in clay bottles (a practice that continued till the 20th century).

Apothecary bottles

On the walls are mounted well-preserved, hand-drawn (now a forgotten art form) movie posters from the box office of yesteryears.

Movie posters

Movie posters

Kept behind glass cases are music sheets of songs (“Sa Dakong Silangan,” “Ang Maya,” “Awit ng Pag-Ibig,” etc.) complete with their excellent cover art.

Music sheets

Piled up at one corner of the museum are three large pieces of wooden tranvia tracks excavated during a road repair in 1998.

Wooden tranvia tracks

Before moving to its present location in Diliman, Quezon City), the GMA Kapuso Network had its beginnings at a makeshift studio at the fourth floor of the building on March 1, 1950 as radio station DZBB-AM before expanding into television, and which would later be renamed GMA.   The museum also houses some of GMA memorabilia. 

At right is the advertisement announcing the opening of DZBB on March 1, 1950

The coffee table book “Kapuso – The GMA Story”

In the past, scaled models of still existing and non-existing Escolta buildings (Capitol Theater, Crystal Arcade, Lyric Theater, Monte de Piedad, etc.), from a collaborative thesis by University of Santo Tomas students in 1996, were also on display.

Old Manila photos

Battle of Manila photos

Escolta Museum: Mezzanine, Calvo Bldg., Escolta, 1006 Manila.  Tel: (02) 241-4762 and (02) 241-4578. Open Mondays to Fridays, 9 AM to 5 PM, and Saturdays, 9 AM to12 noon.  Admission (for a group of at least 4): PhP50 (regular) and PhP20 (students).

First United Building Community Museum (Escolta, Manila)

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Desk of Sy Lian Teng at First United Building Community Museum

The modest  First United Building Community Museum, opened last May 16, 2015, reflects the colorful history of Escolta through the story of the First United Building and of patriarch Sy Lian Teng, an entrepreneur who ran Berg’s, Escolta’s (and Manila’s as well) premiere department store.  It hopes to tell the story of Escolta, from its heyday to what, it is hope, would be its resurgence.

Check out “First United Building“

Portrait of Sy Lian Teng and a framed article narrating his sad war time experience

The various memorabilia displayed in the museum includes the desk of Sy Lian Teng in his old office in the building and some of the old equipment and personal belongings that he used in running his business, such as typewriters, rotary dial phones, letter openers and a manual calculator as well as documents and receipts.

Display of old office equipment such as rotary dial phones and manual calculators.  On the left is a Burroughs Adding Machine

A 1950s vintage Ice-O-Mat Ice Crusher and and a replica of a dismissal bell hanging on its original decorative wooden hanger

Aside from black-and-white photos, the exhibit also features various framed newspaper and magazine articles and artworks that offers a glimpse of what old Escolta was like during its glory days.

Photos of Sy Lian Teng with first wife Lee Siok Kang and their nine children

Born in January 1904, Sy Lian Teng, like many Filipino-Chinese, migrated here from his hometown in Amoy, Fujian, China in 1918.  Although he never went to school, he taught himself Spanish and was fluent in Tagalog.  In 1926, he made a new life and a mark in the city when he and his friends established Cosmos Bazaar (it is still in operation at 571 Quintin Paredes Street). In 1929, he eventually found love when he married Lee Siok Kang and started a family of 9 children (4 boys and 5 girls) from 1930 to 1944. In 1939, Sy brought his immediate family to the Philippines including his brothers, father and stepmother.

However, on January 23, 1945, during World War II, his brother Sy Hua San was captured by the Japanese and never returned. On February 8, 1945, Sy and Guillermo, his eldest son, fled to his mother-in-law’s house in San Juan to evade capture by the Japanese but, four days later, during the Battle of Manila, his wife, 8 of his children, the househelp, some Pampango families and the Pellicers (Sy’s business associates who lived with them) perished (approximately 60 people, all in all) when the desperate Japanese set fire to their house at 161 Balagtas Street.

After the war, Sy returned to his childhood home in China to take a break and somehow re-energize himself.  Here, he was introduced to the Methodist religion and, throughout his remaining years, was quite devout and active in church affairs. Returning to Manila, Sy managed to move on and start anew.  In 1946, Cosmos Bazaar was rebuilt and reopened. In 1949, at the age of 45, he married Emerenciana Antonio Soyangco, his bookkeeper from Naotas and a dear friend of his late wife, and had four children with her (Clarita, Gloria, Roberto and Caesar).

In 1951, Sy bought and managed Berg’s, the well-loved Escolta-based department store.  In 1979, he also managed to purchase half of the ground floor where Berg’s was located (as well as 3rd, 4th and 5th floors) of the Perez-Samanillo Building (now the First United Building being managed by his son Robert and Robert’s wife, the former Lorraine Young) from Pedro Cojuangco (brother of the late president Corazon C. Aquino).  When Berg’s closed in January 1982 due to labor problems, he brought his personal belongings to Room 326 (he later transferred to Room 309).

In 1994, Sy survived cranial surgery (to remove a four-month old blood clot) and, the next year, celebrated his 90th birthday. In 2002, his wife Emerenciana passed away and, on January 2004, he celebrated his 100th birthday but passed away October that same year.  Sy left behind not only a rich legacy, but also an appreciation of Escolta even in the midst of the challenges of the recent years.

The Sylianteng Family Tree

Also on exhibit are artifacts from Berg’s Department Store such as receipts and documents that show past transactions made at the popular store as well as old, black-and-white photos.

Artifacts from Berg’s Department Store

Old black-and-white photos of Berg’s

One of the more interesting items on exhibit, dominating a corner of the museum, is an old sepia photo of Evelyn Berg-Empie, mestiza daughter of Ernest Berg, the German founder of Berg Department Store, and the author of her autobiography “A Child in the Midst of Battle: One Family’s Survival in War-Torn Manila.”

Evelyn Berg-Empie

At the bottom of the photo is a dedication that read: “Dearest Daddy with much love Evelyn, 1948.” A new feature that was recently added is The Wall. Here visitors post their visions and suggestions as to how they envision Escolta’s revival.

At the upper shelf, right, is the sepia photo of Ms. Evelyn Berg-Empie. Beside te photo is a copy of her book.

The museum’s layout was made possible with the help of Architect Marika Constantino, a visual artist, and the 98B COLLABoratory, an artists’ community based also in the First United Building.

Black-and-white photos of old Escolta

The Hawk Eye, a metal last shaped like a human foot. Shoemakers use it in the manufacture and repair of shoes

First United Building Community Museum: Mezzanine Level, First United Building, 413  Escolta Street, Binondo, Manila.  Tel: (632) 7744 5148 and (632) 7241-5150. E-mail: firstunitedbuilding@gmail.com. Admission: Php50 (regular) and Php0 (students). Open Mondays to Saturdays, 9 AM to 5 PM. Coordinates: 14.5987°N 120.9794°E.

Diocesan Shrine of Mary Magdalene (Pililla, Rizal)

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Diocesan Shrine of St. Mary Magdalene

The Diocesan Shrine of Mary Magdalene is located just a few kms. away from San Ildefonso Parish Church in Tanay, beside the Bahay na Bato.  It was first built in bamboo, cogon and nipa by the Franciscan missionaries in 1583 under the patronage of St. Mary Magdalene.

Check out “Church of St. Ildephonsus of Toledo”

In 1632, a conflagration destroyed the church and the whole town and, when a new church was built, another fire destroyed the church in 1668. Rebuilt in wood from 1670 to 1673, the altar and convent were repaired in 1848 and the church was again repaired from 1962 to 1976.

Buttresses at the side of the church

On January 16, 1977, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines unveiled a historical marker on the church’s façade and, on July 22, 2018, the parish was declared as a diocesan shrine.

The church interior. This is the only Rizal church with a painted ceiling

AUTHOR’S NOTES:

The two-level, simply designed adobe Baroque façade, devoid of any decorations, has a semicircular arch main entrance with a portico, above which is a semicircular arch window.  Both levels, flanked by flat pilasters, is topped by a low triangular pediment with a bas relief of St. Mary Magdalene in the center.

The four-storey bell tower, on the church’s left and chamfered at the corners, tapers up in uneven levels, with a balustrade on the four level.  The first level has segmented arch windows with semicircular arch open and blind recesses on the succeeding storeys.  It ends in a dome topped by a miniature campanile and a cross.

The church pulpit

The church distinguishes itself from other Rizal churches in that beautiful religious-themed paintings adorn its ceiling.

The ceiling above the altar

The baptistery, housing a small retablo  with a small devotional painting of St. Mary Magdalene, is located at the bottom of the bell tower, on the left side from the vestibule of the church. 

The baptistery with the image of St. Mary Magdalene

Diocesan Shrine of St. Mary Magdalene: J.P. Rizal St., Brgy. Imatong, Pillila 1910, Rizal. Tel: (02) 8654-2881. Feast of St. Mary Magalene: July 22. Coordinates:  14.4802481, 121.306448.

How to Get There: Pililla is located 61.9 kms. (a 3-hour drive) from Manila and 48.6 kms. (a 2.25-hour drive) from Antipolo City, both via the Manila East Rd./R-5.

Diocesan Shrine of St. Joseph, Husband of Mary (Baras, Rizal)

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Diocesan Shrine and Parish of St. Joseph Complez

The Diocesan Shrine of St. Joseph, Husband of Mary, located on a low mound just off the main highway, a short distance from  Baras Municipal Hall, enshrines the miraculous image of San Jose de Baras and is known to be the oldest parish dedicated to St. Joseph in the Southern Tagalog mainland.

The church’s Baroque facade

Approached by a flight of 11 steps, it was first built by the Franciscan missionaries in 1595 (at the town’s old site in what is now Boso-Boso in Antipolo, with St. James as its patron).

Plaque installed by the Philippine Historical Committee in 1939

In 1636, it was transferred by the Jesuits, to Ibayo, located one and one-half leagues (about 7.24 kms.) southeast of the first site, to escape the hostilities of the Aeta inhabitants in the area who burned the town and the church in 1635.  The church, dedicated to Christ the Savior, was also affected by hostilities, this time when Chinese rebels, in 1639, burned the church as well as other churches in neighboring towns.

The church interior

In 1682, the town was returned to the present site by the Franciscan and the present adobe church was built here from 1682 to 1686, with the church now dedicated to St. Joseph as its patron. In the 1960s, the church ceiling was removed during a renovation, exposing the rough wood beams supporting the ceiling.

The exposed wooden trusses

Tiles used for the restoration of the floor were taken from ruined structures in Intramuros. Renovations to the structure have also been done in the 2000s.  On December 7, 2021, the church was elevated as a diocesan shrine, the 9th declared as such in the Antipolo Diocese.

The church’s pulpit

The church’s simple, two-level façade is a mixture of fortress-style and barn-style Baroque architecture. The façade’s dark, simple, coarse and sparse qualities, typical of Franciscan mission churches built during the 16th century, is given a decorative touch mainly through the stream of balustrade trimming its triangular pediment, as well as the checkerboard pattern of brick and stone on the pediment’s upper portion, which indicates an addition to the original and much lower stone pediment.

Windows are limited to the facade and one side of the church and the sanctuary is divided from the nave by an arch. As the structure has not been plastered, the dark adobe bricks on which the church was made are exposed. The convent is located on the left side of the church.

The church convent

AUTHOR’S NOTES:

The four-storey, hexagonal bell tower, on the church’s right, has a square base and has semicircular arch blind and open recesses.  It is topped by a balustrade and a dome.

The simple but well preserved interiors revealed the exposed wooden trusses that support the church’s roofing, lacking a ceiling that is usually seen in churches. The altar and lectern are stone artifacts unearthed beneath the church during the 1960s renovation.

The altar retablo

The altar, divided into stories, appears to have been intended to be a stone sarcophagus. The main altar and the two side altars are both in the Plateresque style.  The image of San Jose de Baras is believed to have been made after the completion of the Church in 1686.

The convent interior

Old church photos

Diocesan Shrine of St. Joseph, Husband of Mary: San Jose St., Brgy. San Juan, Baras, 1970 Rizal. Tel: (02) 8861-3155. View Map>>>Feast of St. Joseph: March 19. 

How to Get There: Baras is located 43.2 kms. (a 1 hour and 25 min. drive), via Ortigas Ave., from Manila and 29.9 kms. (a 55-min. drive), via Sumulong Highway, from Antipolo City.

Church of St. Jerome (Morong, Rizal)

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Church of St. Jerome

This intricately-designed church, dedicated to St. Jerome (patron of scholars of the Bible, this saint translated the Bible), is one of the splendid examples of tropical Baroque architecture (more properly described as Baroque Revival architecture) in the Philippines, with its unique bell tower shape and finely detailed façade with fanciful balusters, large pillars and carved stone ornaments.  It is a favorite subject for photographers and a lovely backdrop for weddings and selfies.

The unique bell tower shape of the facade

It was first built in wood by Franciscan friars in 1612 opposite of its present location, on the south bank of the river.  After it was destroyed by fire together with a large part of the pueblo in 1612, it was rebuilt, on elevated ground at the opposite bank of Morong River (which ensured its safety from floods and fires) from 1615 to 1620 by Fr. Blas de la Madre with stone and mortar.

The finely-detailed Baroque facade

Stones were quarried from a hill called Kay Ngaya; lime from the stones of the mountain Kay Maputi; and sand and gravel from Morong River. Measuring 42 varas long by 12 varas wide, the church had a single nave with a semicircular apse, built under the direction of Chinese master craftsmen.

The plaque installed by the Philippine Historical Committee in 1939

In 1850, Fr. Maximo Rico commissioned Don Bartolome de Palatino, a native of Paete, to renovate the facade and build the four-storey, 30 m. (100-ft.) high octagonal bell tower.  Completed on February 2, 1853, the new Baroque façade, designed by Severo Sacramento, had a towering height of 20 varas. During the Philippine Revolution, Spanish casadores and other loyal civil guards were besieged in the church and convent, finally surrendering to the Katipuneros on August 19, 1898.

The left side of the church

The central portion of the elaborate, exquisitely carved and frequently photographed three-storey Baroque façade, one of the most striking of all church facades along Laguna de Bay, surges outward and the catenated balustrade above gives the whole a dynamic feeling.

The church interior

It has superpositioned Doric columns, a semicircular arched main entrance and an elaborately decorated segmental pediment with carved cornice and tympanum.  Horizontal string courses with decorative moldings and balustrades identify each level. Various decorative elements, some Mexican in origin, give the facade a richness characteristic of Baroque.

The choir loft

Chinese influence is seen at the two (a boy and a girl) Chinese lion sculptures at the entrance to the steep entrance driveway (it is 30 feet above the town). One lion, said to be the girl lion (said to have a hidden treasure inside it), was stolen between 2000 and 2005. The male lion is safeguarded at the St. Jerome school vicinity.

Main altar area

Above the main entrance is its landmark single bell tower (characteristic of European churches), the church’s focal point, with its statue of St. Michael the Archangel on top and ornamented with floral and scroll designs.

Four angels, representing the cardinal virtues (Prudence, Justice, Restraint and Courage), stand at the corners of the bell tower. The Franciscan coat-of-arms (indicating it was once assigned to Franciscan missionaries), the hands of Jesus and St. Francis of Assisi, is seen on the main facade of the bell tower.

The cross at its tip is illuminated at night and can be seen from the surrounding countryside. When fishing at night and during the storm, the bell tower is used by local fisher man in the nearby towns as a light house. Fr. Felix Huerta, writing in 1852, states that the facade had finials shaped as jars and shells used for illuminating it.

An added attraction in the church is the first class relic (a part of the saint’s body) given to the parish year in 2005, through the effort of then parish priest Rev. Fr. Lawrence “Larry” Paz, when they had their first pilgrimage tour to Holy Land and Vatican City.

Publicly exposed every Saturday during the anticipated mass (the kissing of the relic is done every last Saturday of the month), the relic is guarded by the knights of St. Jerome. Another much bigger relic, given, in 2007 to the parish as a gift from the main chaplain of the church of St. Jerome in Rome, is now buried on top of the table of the main altar.  It is kissed by the priest every time there is a mass.

 

The Four Evangelists

Church of St. Jerome: Turentigue St., Brgy. San Jose, Morong, Rizal. Tel: 8653-1259.  View Map>>>Feast of St. Jerome: September 30.

How to Get There: Morong is located 4.5 kms. (a 2-hr., 15-min. drive), via R-6, from Manila and 26.6 kms. (a 1-hr. drive), via Sumulong Highway, from Antipolo City.

Church of St. Ursula (Binangonan, Rizal)

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Church of St. Ursula

The centuries-old Church of St. Ursula, at the poblacion, was first built by Franciscan friars as a chapel in the late 16th century to gain access to native settlers around Laguna de Bay.

The church’s Baroque facade

The present church, started in 1792 and completed in 1800, was renovated in 1853. At the same time, the adjacent convent was rebuilt, under Fr. Francisco de Paula Gomez.

NHC Plaque

AUTHOR’S NOTES:

The two-level, Baroque façade has a semicircular arch main entrance, flanked by four sets of rectangular pilasters , at the first level.  The second level, flanked by rectangular pilasters topped by urn-like finials, has three sets of semicircular arch windows (the bigger one in the center) framed by flat pilasters and topped by triangular pediments.

The triangular pediment has a rose window in the center. Between the façade and the bell tower, on the second level, is a statue of St. Ursula. The lovely three-storey, octagonal bell tower, on the church’s right, rests on a square base and has semicircular arch blind and open recesses.  It is topped by a dome and a cross.

The church’s interior

Inside, the church (like that of Diocesan Shrine of St. Joseph, Husband of Mary in Baras) has no ceiling and its wooden trusses are exposed giving it a rustic look.

Check out “Diocesan Shrine of St. Joseph, Husband of Mary”

The exposed ceiling

The altar and retablo

Church of St. Ursula: Paterno St., Brgy. Libid, Binangonan, Rizal. View Map>>>Tel: (02) 8652-3423.  Feast of St. Ursula: October 21.

How to Get There: Binangonan is located 32.5 kms. (a one hour and 20 min. drive), via Manila East Rd./R-5,from Manila and 25.4 kms. (a 1-hour drive), via E Bank Rd. and Manila East Rd., from Antipolo City.