• City of Manila

    Heritage and some Kapuso history: the Calvo Building at Escolta

    Long before Makati’s Ayala Avenue, Manila’s premier street business for any business or commercial establishment would be that one street in Manila’s Binondo district known as Escolta. From the late 19th century to the 1960’s, Escolta was a thriving street of trade and commerce. At its height in the 1930’s the whole street was lined with elegant buildings from end to end, most of them sporting classy architecture that dominated and beautified Manila’s skyline. One of those buildings that rose during that period was a little building near the corner of Escolta and Calle Soda called the Calvo Building. (or to the Hispanics like the Calvo family who had it…