Landmark by the Green
Looking at old maps of Manila from anytime before 1960, we note the large open space in front of the Rizal monument. It was known as Burnham Green. It was named to honor the noted American architect and city planner Daniel H. Burnham, who had, in 1905, prepared a master plan for Manila and Baguio.
Defining this space are several Manila landmarks, products mostly of the American colonial era. These are prime examples of a tropical-colonial style of architecture created by William E. Parsons. Schooled at Yale and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Parsons was handpicked by Burnham to flesh out his master plan.
The focus of this week’s article is the revival of one particular icon, the Army and Navy Club, whose storied history begins in 1898, months after the transition between colonial eras. The club was set up mainly for the recreational amenity of American military officers but in its operations of over 80 years saw it evolve into a social club that was patronized by civilian expats and Filipinos alike. It served as the Museo ng Maynila for a short stint in the late 1990s and today it is being adaptively re-used to become a five-star hotel.
According to historian Lewis E. Gleek, in its first decade of existence, the Army and Navy Club was first housed in Spanish-era structures just outside, then inside Intramuros. Its members drew from the ranks of the American military from obviously its Army and Navy.
In its early years the default heads of the club were the highest-ranking military officials. Admiral Dewey, after whom the boulevard was first named, was the first president. General Arthur MacArthur, father of Douglas, who was a member when he was assigned to Manila in the 1930s, followed him. Douglas’ aide, a certain Colonel Dwight D. Eisenhower, was also a member. President Eisenhower returned to Manila after the war and did not forget to visit the club, a favorite haunt of his.
Although civilians were denied membership, colonial government officials entertained there, including Governors General Henry Clay Ide and William Cameron Forbes. The club soon outgrew its facilities in Intramuros and architect Parsons, then the chief consulting architect of the Philippines, was engaged to design the new building on a site leased from the Manila City government.
Parsons designed the club in a three-story H-shaped structure with two wings dedicated to club facilities and rooms for members upstairs. The elegant design followed a restrained neo-classic style that Parsons developed for civic and institutional buildings. He would later be in charge of the urban development and architecture of Washington DC’s Federal Triangle. No wonder the Luneta and the US Capital share a common design DNA.
The Army and Navy Club was inaugurated with much fanfare in April 1911. From then on until the coming of the Second World War, it became a key site for social events, mainly for the 800 members. It also hosted visits from visiting dignitaries as well as regular American holiday events, which became embedded in Manila’s social life like New Year’s Eve, Easter egg hunts, Independence Day and Halloween.
The club’s outdoor amenities were augmented in this period with tennis courts and a swimming pool, which had a full panoramic view of Manila Bay until the American embassy was built in the Commonwealth years. Inside, the club boasted dining rooms, a bar, card rooms, a library with American newspapers shipped from the mainland, and a bowling alley in the basement. A dining pavilion was added later and events and receptions would cater to as many as 600 guests at a time.
In the pre-war period Filipinos were generally not allowed and women were restricted to certain areas. It was a chauvinistic institution until it eased up on membership, nationality (and gender) after the war. An account of the club’s facilities was quoted by Gleeck from Admiral Holland M. Sweetser, who frequented the club in the 1930:
“The bulletin board, desk and office were immediately to the left of the main entrance. The bar was to the left of the corridor in the left wing. Across the corridor from the bar was a “stag” dining room (men only) and at the end of the corridor …a shoeshine stand and barbershop. Among the round tables in the bar… there were several large tops made from a single piece of mahogany (narra). . . .There were always free peanuts, crackers and cheese spread in the bar and free (snacks) from four to six in the afternoon). Certain members were known for visiting the bar only on fired chicken day. Ladies were permitted in the left wing of the club only on New Year’s Eve.”
The Admiral continued, “In the right wing of the club there was a writing room and lounge. The dining room was at the rear of the club and its chef who had been there for many, many years had a reputation for outstanding food and service. …Favorite drinks in the bar was San Miguel draught beer, which was always served in chilled-until-frosted glass beer mugs, and the bar Scotch, which the club imported in bulk and aged for years before using.”
In all this time, Burnham Green and the promenade called the New Luneta fronting the bay was the site of large civic and social events like the Eucharistic Congress of 1937. Annual Independence Day parades and the famous Manila Carnival were also held nearby. The Army and Navy Club was a witness, backdrop, and participant in the history of Manila’s evolution as the Pearl of the Orient.
The club was heavily damaged in the liberation of Manila but was one of the first buildings to be restored. American military officers made use of it before the end of 1945. President Sergio Osmeña was invited for the reopening signaling a change in the complexion of the club, which would evolve into a civilian institution in the 1950s.
We continue with this article next week to look at the fate of the ANC from the ‘60s to the new millennium. We also pay a visit to the ANC today to look at ongoing conservation and construction to adapt it as a five-star hotel, essentially its function originally.
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Feedback is welcome. Please email the writer at paulo.alcazaren@gmail.com.
