Page 8 - Escolta News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Back in its pre-World War II heyday, the street of Escolta was thronged by Manila’s finest gentlemen and wealthiest families. The place was home to the Philippines’ firsts: the first air-conditioned building, first elevator, first ice cream shop, and more. The picturesque architecture that sits in Escolta withstood the ravages of time albeit dust settled on its rooftops. If you pass by the area today, locals could share a thing or two about its once-thriving culture. The place boasts buildings where you can relieve the country’s past. It has the Don Roman Santos Building, a neoclassical...

With a starting bid of five million, the super rare letras y figuras Views of Manila must have sold for an eye-watering sum in last Saturday’s Leon Gallery auction. It was painted in the 1840s by José Honorato Lozano (ca. 1815-1885), surely either as a souvenir or as a going away gift to an expat with a Manila trading firm, probably American. Damian Domingo (1796-1834), one of our earliest artists known by name, pioneered in painting figures as tipos del pais, i.e., sangleyes of various occupations and social standings in typical costumes. Lozano did him one better by positioning figur...

‘MAIN STREET, MANILA Escolta, 1898. The Treaty of Paris ending the Spanish-American War was signed on Dec. 10, 1898 seven months after Admiral George Dewey won the Battle of Manila Bay the preceding first of May. That was when journalist Margherita Arlina Hamm came our way. It took 30 days to reach Manila from New York by train to San Francisco and by boat to Manila and 35 days to return. Visas were issued by the Spanish Consul in Hong Kong, where travelers were cautioned against smuggling and told what they could bring in by way of clothes, equipment, literature, and money. Written ma...