Introduction: This blog will tour you to Escolta, one of the oldest street here in Manila. This will help you to know more about how historical this place in the past year up to the present time. Unibersidad de Manila students, specifically UC-25 group 3 compiled these reference to present to you this travel blog. We hope this will help you. Enjoy your tour.

One of Manila’s famous streets, the Escolta, could also be the oldest. For the most part, it has lost its gilded edge and glory as Manila’s downtown area. It certainly has a rich history dating back to the early Spanish colonial days but I’m not going to go back that far. To me, it started to get interesting after the American colonization of the Philippines. Not only were the times moving Manila into the 20th century, the Americans influenced the modernized “look” of the city. With the influx of a large number of American investors, American companies clearly dominated the economy, with most of them establishing their headquarters around the center of business activity, the Escolta.

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.

Escolta Street downtown business street of the day, Manila, Philippines, pre WWII.

Escolta - present

The Philippine National Bank was established as a government-owned banking institution on July 22, 1916 with headquarters in the old Masonic Temple along Escolta, Manila. Its primary mandate was to provide financial services to Philippine industry and agriculture and support the government's economic development effort. World War I, then raging in Europe, generated huge demand for the country's major exports namely: sugar, copra, coconut oil, Manila hemp and tobacco. However, not much was being done to develop the industries that produced these sought-after crops since access to credit facilities was limited then. To solve this problem, Henderson Martin, Vice Governor of the Philippines, together with Mr. Miguel Cuaderno (who later became Central Bank governor) drafted the charter for a national bank.

The abandoned PNB headquarters.

In February 4, 1916, Public Act 2612 was passed by the Philippine legislature providing for the establishment of the PNB to replace the small P1 million government-owned Agricultural Bank. PNB's first head office was the Masonic Temple along Escolta, the then "Wall Street of the Philippines" in the bustling district of Sta. Cruz in Manila. An American, H. Parker Willis, was its first president.

The Escolta Twin Towers was used to be the site of the old Masonic Temple, the first headquarters of the Philippine National Bank when it started its operations in 1916.

Pablo Antonio,
architech

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.                                             

      

       Frank Goulette, a former policeman acquired the Lyric in 1913 and went on to start a chain of movie houses through the Philippines. He died in 1933. The Lyric was taken over by Eastern Theatrical Inc. (Rufino family).  

         

Frank Goulette, entrepreneur-1901.

       The honor of having made the very first talkie properly belongs to Jose  Nepomuceno. His Film Punyal na Guinto (Golden Dagger), which premiered on March 9, 1933, at the Lyric theater, was credited as the first completely sound movie to all-talking picture. Source: History of Philippine Cinema, Arsenio Bautista

Lyric Theater - 1920s 

   

The Lyric Theater - 1930s

We all know that the pre-war City of Manila was considered as the best city in the Far East, at par with those in Europe and in the Americas. Visitors who came into the city were amazed on what the city has to offer. In fact, when the Japanese paraded their troops in Manila, they were envious that Manila was way more beautiful than their own Tokyo. We owe our gratitude not only to the people who worked hard to make the Pearl of the Orient Seas one of the best, but we also have to recognize the structures that made our city unique. 

The pre-war business districts of Binondo and Sta. Cruz boast a number of beautiful office buildings. One of these buildings is the famed Regina Building along the famed Escolta. 

The Regina Building along the Escolta.

The predecessor of the
Regina Building, the old
 Edificio Roxas
on the corner
of the Escolta
and Calle Banquero
 facing Plaza Sta. Cruz. - 1905

Before the present Regina Building was built, another building stood on its location. The old Roxas Building was located opposite the Pérez-Samanillo Building, occupying a block from Calle David (now Burke St.) to Calle Banquero. The building had two wings, with the concrete building facing Calle David and the Pasig which was occupied by the offices of the Roxas y Cía, and Pedro P. Roxas y Cía. The other wing faces the Estero de la Reina and Plaza Sta. Cruz which a quaint coffee shop called Victoria Café occupies. The owners of the old Roxas Building were the de Ayala-Roxas family, specifically Doña Carmen de Ayala Roxas de Roxas, widow of rich man-nationalist Don Pedro Pablo Roxas Castro.

Da. Carmen de Ayala
Roxas vda. de Pedro P.
Roxas Castro, heiress to the
Roxas-de Ayala fortune and
owner of the old Roxas Building.

The de Ayala-Roxas matriarch and heiress Doña Carmen de Ayala Roxas de Roxas died in 1930. As a result, the Roxas family sold the property to Don José Leoncio de León, a prominent industrialist from Pampanga. The old structure facing the estero was demolished and was replaced by a concrete building.

The old and new Roxas Buildings (left) in the 1920s.
The old bahay na bato building has been renovated.
The newer building facing Calle David can be
seen at the back of the old building.

The Regina and the Pérez-Samanillo Buildings
act as the entrance to the Escolta
 from Plaza Sta. Cruz.

The building was designed by two architects, Fernando H. Ocampo, and the great Andrés Luna de San Pedro. Ocampo was credited in designing and renovating the existing concrete building while Luna was the one who designed the new building facing the estero and Plaza Sta. Cruz. One of the tenants of the building was Pacific Motors, dealer of General Motors vehicles in Manila.

The Regina Building during the 1950s.

An express of interest over Escolta's rehabilitation as a tourist spot was raised after the victory of incumbent mayor of Manila Joseph Estrada. Also, a tour entitled #VivaManila was conceived by celebrity tour guide/activist Carlos Celdran. He aims to restore the former glory of Manila's historic districts, which includes the Escolta-Binondo business area. We at A.M. fully support the plans of the city government of Manila in restoring of not only of the Escolta, but the rehabilitation of the city as a whole.

Pre-war Manila was a city of entertainment, its streets lined with nightclubs, cabarets, theaters, cinemas, and social clubs. The city had so much theaters that some were built right in front or beside each other. So, along the stretch of the beautiful Escolta is a first-class theater that many members of the alta sociedad prefer, which is the Capitol Theater.

The Capitol Theater sits on prime land at the western side of the Escolta, once the country's premier business and shopping area north of the Pasig River. The Capitol Theater is one of the city's many cinema theaters, but not the Escolta's only cinema as its rival (later sister) theater Lyric is only two buildings away from the Capitol.

A photo of the Capitol during its grand opening.

The Capitol Theater was built in 1935, and a masterpiece of National Artist Juan F. Nakpil de Jesús, who also designed the Pérez Samanillo Building together with the great Andrés Luna de San Pedro. It was designed and built in the art-deco style of architecture, an architectural style that was prevalent in the 1920s and 1930s. The Capitol had a total of eight hundred seats, and one of Manila's air-conditioned theaters. One interesting feature of the Capitol was its design. Inside the theater, Nakpil made use of double balconies, which was then a rare architectural design. Its lobby adorned murals designed by the triumvirate composed of Filipino modernists Victorio C. Edades, Carlos V. Francisco, and Galo B. Ocampo. According to documents, Nakpil originally commissioned Edades to work on the mural. Edades then chose 'Botong' Francisco to be his assistant, who then brought with him Ocampo. The three had just returned from the United States and hoped to change the Philippine art scene long dominated by the masters Fernando Amorsolo and Guillermo Tolentino. 

A colored photo,
probably a postcard,
of the Escolta business
area. The Capitol is on
 the left side of the photo.

The Capitol Theater, - present