The Provincial Capitol of Pangasinan is a fine example of Neoclassic architecture. Why was that style of architecture used in our government buildings at that time? In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Greek revival or Neoclassic style was regarded as the most appropriate for government edifices in the great capitals of the world. This style was derived from the design of temples and governments wanted to impress on their people respect for the sacredness of state authority. Thus we find evocations of Athens and the Acropolis in London, Paris, Berlin, and Washington, DC, to name a few. In adopting this style, the Philippines, then a colony, expressed its desire to stand among the free nations of the world.
The Luneta Hotel is one of the two rare examples of the French Renaissance style in Manila, the other being the Legarda Elementary School designed by Andres Luna de San Pedro, the son of Juan Luna. French influence on Filipino architecture began in the late 18th century with the introduction of the Rococo style of decoration in a number of churches. The Luneta Hotel is unique for its old-world elegance.
The Uy-Chaco Building is probably the only Art Nouveau building in this country. The architectural movement was short-lived but exciting, lasting roughly from the 1890s to around 1905. It was characterized by graceful, flowing lines, ranging from the restrained to the exuberant. The undulating balconies of the Uy-Chaco Building mark it as Art Nouveau. When the Uy-Chaco Building was completed in 1914, it was advertised as the first skyscraper in the Philippines.
The Metropolitan Theater is the masterpiece of the eminent Juan Arellano, who also designed the Post Office Building. While the latter is in the Neoclassic style, the Metropolitan Theater is in the Art Deco style, but Art Deco that is festive, flamboyant, and adorned with Filipino motifs. In its days of glory – the 1930s and the early 1940s – it was the cultural center of Manila – an opera house, a concert hall, a theater for dance and drama, and a movie house. In the late 1930s and early 1940s I attended performances at the Metropolitan. I remember how splendid the original interior was.
These and other early 20th-century Filipino buildings show us how progressive and cosmopolitan our architecture has been. They tell us of how the Filipino responded to the international movements of the time and how he aspired to join the mainstream of global culture.
The buildings shown on these stamps are a small but significant part of our vast architectural heritage, which includes our indigenous and ethnic dwellings, the torogan and the old mosques, churches, houses, and civic structures of the Spanish colonial period, the various buildings of the American colonial period and the era of national independence. They all attest to the genius and creativity of our people, and in their present state they need and plead for our respectful attention and our loving care.