In a metropolis where tales of gems neglected or lost to urbanization, the story of the old Elks Club Building along Manila’s Roxas Boulevard near Rizal Park is a story worth to be told and emulated in the field of what they call as “adaptive reuse” or making use of an old structure into a different purpose while maintaining its classic character. And the story behind this edifice gets more interesting. As the name suggests, it served as the home of the Manila Elks Club, a social club and fraternal organization that is under the Elks Lodge (or formally, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks) centrally based in Chicago.…
-
-
Quiapo and its Golden Mosque
On the occasion of the recent Muslim holiday of Eid’l Fit’r, I decided to take a break from my “Capital Dream” series to write this longstanding article Apart from the Basilica of the Black Nazarene, Quiapo is also well-known for another religious structure that has become an area and city landmark as a whole. Of course, I am talking here of none other than the Masjid Al-Dahab or the Golden Mosque, purportedly the largest mosque located in the metropolis. The mosque was originally built in 1976 as a project of then First Lady Imelda Marcos in time for a planned visit by the leader of Libya back then, Muammar Gadhafi.…
-
The Twin Sentinels of Escolta
If you’re coming from Santa Cruz making your way to Calle Escolta, you can never miss the sight of these two buildings that will welcome you to this historic street from the foot of the bridge crossing the Estero de la Reina. Sharing some common architectural features and a heritage of an American colonial past, these buildings were, and still are, the prominent addresses to be in this historic street. Today, we shall check out these twin sentinels and learn more about them in this entry.
-
The “Roma” in Intramuros
While it is true that Intramuros is known as the “Little Vatican” because of the presence before of 7 churches in the Walled City and the fact that it is until now the seat of Roman Catholicism in Manila, and perhaps the country as well, this entry would not be about any of these churches. The “Roma” here would refer to the plaza, Plaza Roma, considered to be the “plaza mayor” or the main plaza of the city in the olden times.