Manila Bay in 1920s:
Taft Venue in mid 30s:
Escolta Street 1940s:
Quezon Boulevard 1942:
Manila 1950s:
Manila 1960s:
Luneta Park 1960s:
Quiapo Church 1960s:
Dewey Boulevard 1965 (now Roxas Blvd):
Escolta 1968:
CCP 1970s
A bus from 1983 :)
Rizal Park:
The old Manila is beautiful! No traffic, no pollution, we have lots of trees, wide sidewalks, and no dirts. Stunning and very historical.
2 deck bus? Srsly?
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Ongpin St., Chinatown, Manila
Little Quiapo
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Basilica of San Sebastian, Manila c 1800
Completed in 1891, San Sebastian Church is noted for its architectural features. An example of the revival of Gothic architecture in the Philippines, it is the only all-steel church or basilica in Asia. It has also been implausibly reputed to be the first prefabricated building in the world, and more plausibly claimed as the only prefabricated steel church in the world.
The prefabricated steel sections that would compose San Sebastian Church were manufactured in Binche, Belgium. According to the historian Ambeth Ocampo, the knockdown steel parts were ordered from the Societe Anonyme des Enterprises de Travaux Publiques in Brussels. In all, 52 tons of prefabricated steel sections were transported in eight separate shipments from Belgium to the Philippines, the first shipment arriving in 1888. Belgian engineers supervised the assembly of the church, the first column of which was erected on September 11, 1890. The walls were filled with mixed sand, gravel and cement. The stained glass windows were imported from the Henri Oidtmann Company, a German stained glass firm, while local artisans assisted in applying the finishing touches of the steel church.
^ this reminds me of the book/mini series ‘pillars of the earth.’
Rizal Avenue corner Carriedo Street, Manila
nostalgic for old manila, i wish i got to experience this.
“Intramuros! The old Manila. The original Manila. The Noble and Ever Loyal City…
To the early conquistadores she was a new Tyre and Sidon; to the early missionaries she was a new Rome. Within these walls was gathered the wealth of the Orient - silk from China; spices from Java; gold and ivory and precious stones from India. And within these walls the Champions of Christ to Conquer the Orient for the Cross. Through these old streets once crowded a marvelous mulititude - viceroys and archbishops; mystics and merchants; pagan sorcerers and Christian Martyrs, Portuguese traitors, Dutch Spies, Moro Sultans, and Yanke clipper captains. For three centuries this medieval town was a Babylon in commerce and a New Jerusalem in its faith…
Now look: this is all that it’s left of it now. Weeds and rubble and scrap iron. A piece of wall, a fragment of stairway - and over there, the smashed gothic facade of Santo Domingo … Quomodo desolata es, Civitas Dei! (How desolate are you, the City of God!)”
-Bitoy Camacho
A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino, Nick Joaquin
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Intramuros - Manila, Philippines
D.H. Burnham’s plan for Manila. (1905)
