It’s been a while but with some interesting developments going around the metropolis during the past few months, this merits a new edition of our Roamer’s Roundup! ======================= Here’s some good news first to start things off. Heeding the petition of thousands spearheaded by the conductor of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra Olivier Ochanine, the Philamlife Auditorium is headed to get a new lease of life under new ownership which is that of the SM group’s SMDC which has plans of building another one of those residential projects there. In a statement released by SMDC, they said, “Although the development plan is still in its initial stage, SMDC stressed that the…
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Ermita Icon: The Philamlife Building
As the Philippines was recovering from the devastation of the Second World War, a surge of economic progress was beginning to take place beginning in the 1950’s. By the dawn of the following decade, new infrastructures, housing developments, and commercial establishments were beginning to take shape and arise in the horizon. One of these structures is the focus of this entry: the building of the Philippine American Life and General Insurance Company at Ermita district in Manila. The Philamlife (or Philam Life, depending on your source but both forms are acceptable) Building was built in 1961 along Ermita’s major thoroughfare that we know now as United Nations Avenue (then known…
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The Grand Dame by the Bay (Part 2)
With the many changes the Manila Hotel underwent through over the years, there is still this old world charm that it has managed to somehow retain today. This is evident the moment you step in its doors and be greeted by its iconic grand lobby. From the lobby to the room, every inch of the hotel manages to still retain an old world charm that reminds you of what Manila was in the past. Manila Hotel (album 1) VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL As far as hotel dining is concerned, the Manila Hotel has managed to make its mark thankss to its Ilang-Ilang Restaurant which offers a rich buffet of…
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The Grand Dame by the Bay (Part 1)
Each city has at least one icon of a hotel that has inextricably become part of that city’s history and heritage. And if there is one hotel in Manila that deserves that iconic tag, there is little doubt (if not none) that such honor will be granted to the so-called “Grand Dame by the Bay”: the Manila Hotel. Perhaps no stronger case can be cited with the intertwined histories of the city and its hotel than a glance at the hotel’s history, a part of what was supposed to be a grander masterplan by American architect Daniel Burnham for Manila in 1905 as a “City Beautiful.” The land where Manila…