Juan Luna Building (also known as the Juan Luna Plaza) is a historic building located in

Binondo Binondo (; ) is a district in Manila and is referred to as the city's Chinatown. Its influence extends beyond to the places of Quiapo, Manila, Quiapo, Santa Cruz, Manila, Santa Cruz, San Nicolas, Manila, San Nicolas and Tondo, Manila, Tondo. ...

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. It was also known as the Pacific Commercial Company Building, First National City Bank Building, and the Ayala Building.

History

Pacific Commercial Company Building NHCP Historical Marker

The Juan Luna Building was built as the Pacific Commercial Company Building in the 1920s. The construction of the building was finished by July 1922 and was inaugurated November 13, 1922. The building was later bought by

Enrique Zobel Enrique Jacobo Emilio Zóbel y Olgado (January 7, 1927 – May 17, 2004), better known as Enrique J. Zóbel and EZ, was a prominent Filipino businessman, pilot, and polo player belonging to the prominent Zóbel de Ayala family who are of S ...

and was known as the "Ayala Building" from 1940 to 1959. The LBC Properties Inc. led a renovation of the building in 2007. The First National City Bank also occupied the building. In 2009, the building was bought by businessman Carlos Araneta who planned to the building to host a business process outsourcing company. The building underwent renovation in 2012 and was meant to be named as the Juan Luna e-Services Building. The facade of the building was preserved However lack of investors hindered Araneta's plan and the Juan Luna Building was purposed as a mixed-used building that also serves as a

living museum A living museum, also known as a living history museum, is a type of museum which recreates historical settings to simulate a past time period, providing visitors with an experiential interpretation of history. It is a type of museum that recr ...

2018 fire

Past midnight of May 28, 2018, a fire broke out at the nearby Land Management Bureau Building. By 8:00 AM (PST +8:00), the fire has reached the Juan Luna Building. The third floor and portions of the fourth floor of the Juan Luna Building were affected by the fire. The 150 Plaza Cervantes building and the Moraga Mansion were also affected by the fire which was put out around 4:00 PM The incident is suspected to be caused by

arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

due to the timing of the start of the fire. The

National Archives of the Philippines The National Archives of the Philippines (NAP; ) is an agency of the government of the Philippines mandated to collect, store, preserve and make available Archive, archival records of the government and other primary sources pertaining to the h ...

office hosted in the Juan Luna Building was affected by the fire although the agency stated that no historical documents were burnt since it keeps these in their offices in

Paco Paco is a Spanish nickname for Francisco. According to folk etymology, the nickname has its origins in Saint Francis of Assisi, who was the father of the Franciscan order; his name was written in Latin by the order as (father of the community); ...

and

Ermita Ermita is a district in central Manila, Philippines. It is a significant center of finance, education, culture, and commerce. Ermita serves as the civic center of Manila, bearing the seat of city government and a large portion of the area's e ...

Architecture and design

The five-storey Juan Luna Building was designed by American architects Murphy, McGill and Hamlin of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, and was completed at a cost of two million pesos. Occupying about of an irregularly shaped corner lot adjacent to El Hogar, it has a frontage of on General Luna Street and on Muelle de la Industria, along the

Pasig River The Pasig River (; ) is a water body in the Philippines that connects Laguna de Bay to Manila Bay. Stretching for , it bisects the Philippine capital of Manila and Metro Manila, its surrounding urban area into northern and southern halves. Its m ...

. The building derived its design from the trademark architectural features set by the International Banking Corporation of New York for its overseas branches. The bank's prototype was made up of a row of colossal columns in antis, which was faithfully reproduced for its Manila headquarters. The ground floor was fully rusticated to effect a textured finish. This floor had arched openings with fanlights emphasized by stones forming the arch. The main doors were adorned with lintels resting on consoles. Above the ground floor were six three-storey high, engaged Ionic columns, ending in an entablature topped by a cornice. These six columns dominating the south and west facades were, in turn, flanked by a pair of pilasters on both fronts. The fifth floor was slightly indented and also topped by an entablature crowned by strip of anthemion.

References

{{Binondo Buildings and structures in Binondo Commercial buildings completed in 1922 Office buildings in Metro Manila 20th-century architecture in the Philippines