this has got to be my favorite building in old manila. i came across it in july and took this photo. with it's chamfered facade and art deco design, i was smitten immediately. there's something so charming about little corner buildings and tall upright windows, if you ask me. i was quite worried then than it would be torn down like the rest of the pre-war buildings we were surveying for IPC's architectural heritage of manila project. it's just so sad that instead of restoring magnificent works of art, people replace them completely with tasteless boxes of steel and concrete they call condominiums, without so much thought about how these affect the character and general flow of the environment. i was relieved, therefore when a week ago, i passed by the place again to find that the building was being restored.
it was apparent that the owners are trying to maintain the overall appearance of the building. too bad they seem to be changing the look of the shutters. i would have wanted the same pull-in ones as seen in the first photo. these give the building an interesting look when you gaze at it from below. but, i guess you can't have everything. they must be replacing them with weather-resistant ones.
indulging in the impossible, i wondered how it must be like to own that building. being the sole owner of that property would arguably make me the happiest girl in the whole wide world!
if i had heaps of money, i'd turn the first floor into a quaint cafe cum bookstore where anyone can drink good local brews, eat comfort food, bask in the cozy interiors and stay for as long as they want either with a business contact, some friends, a special someone or just with themselves.
the second floor i would turn into a gallery or artspace that exhibits the works of emerging filipino artists. there is a dearth of talent out there that just needs to be represented in order to grow. the galleries in manila are concentrated in yuppie makati and far-away antipolo. why not bring a gallery to a place very accessible to a large population of students whose exposure to art, if at all, is increasingly becoming more and more just internet-based? this will rather make tangible art less snooty and closer to the common juan. and besides, a city can't have enough galleries, i think.
the third floor? well, i would have the whole of it for myself. i can almost see it--my own loft. i already have the exact layout in my head: bed, bath, kitchen, desk where i'd do my freelance research and writing, reading futon, studio for my photographic work--the essentials. how wonderful it would be to wake up each morning with a view of sta. cruz plaza, don't you think? morning coffee at the breakfast table beside the bay window while watching the city wake up would be an instant pick-me-upper. and if i'd be very bored with my own cooking or what's inside the fridge, it'd be quite lovely to just take a walk to nearby ongpin and tomas mapua and pick up some dimsum or freshly baked bread and have chinese tea or sugarcane juice before the staff (two of them) arrives and we open shop. if it's a cold morning, the old ling nam noodle joint is just one more block away.
oh my, the joys of freestyle dreaming.
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