The series of demolitions of precious heritage buildings has made us realize that these treasures which have survived wars, calamities, neglect, decay, vermin, and the ravages of time could be gone with a few blows of the wrecking ball and assaults with a barrage of bulldozers, picks, axes, and jackhammers. Just last February 2014, tenants of the century-old El Hogar Filipino Building were told to vacate the premises by the new owner, a sign of things to come. Heritage activists quickly signed petitions asking the Manila City Hall not to issue a demolition permit. The new owner claimed that he had no immediate plans of demolishing the beautiful building designed by Ramon Irrureta-Goyena in the Beaux-Arts Style of the turn of the century. He said he was only going to use it as a storage area for his business. Meanwhile, the bronze plaque bearing the likeness of El Hogar Filipino founder, Don Antonio Melian y Pavia plus a time capsule were detached from the building which, for many was an ominous sign of an impending demolition. The El Hogar Filipino Building is a crown jewel of a heritage building, no matter that it has suffered from decades of neglect by its owners. It is a historic building, no doubt, having housed the offices of various important business firms which have shaped the Philippine economy. Architecturally, it is one of the few early 20th century Beaux-Arts buildings which have survived. Moreover, the architectural details found within its walls, which we hope have not been removed by its new owner, are of such a high level of design and crafstmanship not seen in recent history. There are many reasons why the El Hogar Building should be saved and the only way to achieve this is a concerted pro-active effort by the citizenry in cooperation with government officials who shall hopefully sympathize with our cause to put to adaptive reuse these beautiful historic structures which are our link to Manilas rich and beautiful history. For those who are unaware of the history of the El Hogar Filipino Building, following is the link to Paulo Rubios article in his blog, Arquitectura Manila: arquitecturamanila.blogspot/2014/04/el-hogar-filipino-building.html?m=1
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 02:55:42 +0000
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