Escolta's Heritage Buildings: The Burke & First United Story

The Burke Building was completed in 1919, during the American occupation of the Philippines. Named after cardiologist William J. Burke, it was designed by Tomas Fernandez Arguelles, one of the Philippines' most important pre-war architects. At five stories, it was one of Escolta's tallest buildings when completed.

The building is perhaps most famous for housing Manila's first elevator--an Otis brand imported from France with a manual brass cage. This detail reveals much about the era: importing European luxury technology was seen as progress, as proof of Manila's modernity. The elevator survives inside the building today, though visitors can no longer ride it (it's non-functional).

Compared to other Escolta buildings, the Burke Building is startlingly simple. Its walls are barely ornamented. There's no elaborate art nouveau or neoclassical detailing. The main visual element is a chamfered (cut diagonal) corner that terminates in a parapet bearing the building's name. This minimalism is intentional, reflecting art deco principles: form follows function, ornamentation is eliminated in favor of clean lines.

The building's significance lies in its construction and engineering rather than decoration. It represented Manila's embrace of modern building technology and American architectural ideas. It was proof that Manila could build tall, modern structures efficiently--that Manila was becoming a 'real' international city.

The building housed various commercial tenants, most notably the department store Heacock's. The store occupied multiple floors and was a destination--a place where Manila's affluent went for imported goods. The Burke Building's ground floor was always retail or restaurant; upper floors were offices.

This mixed-use model was typical of Escolta buildings. The street level served everyday commerce; upper floors served financial and business functions.

The Burke Building survived World War II bombing, though not without damage. Post-war reconstruction altered some interior spaces, but the exterior facade remains recognizable. Today, the building houses a mix of retail and office tenants. It's no longer a showcase of modernity (that role moved to BGC and Makati decades ago), but it remains functional and inhabits.

Visitors can walk past, observe the facade, and imagine the building at full magnificence in 1925, when Escolta truly dominated Manila's commercial life.

The First United Building (also called the Perez--Samanillo Building) was completed in 1928 and was the tallest building in Manila at the time. It was designed by Andrés P. Luna, son of the famous painter Juan Luna. The building represents the apex of Escolta's confidence--it was built with conviction that Escolta would remain Manila's financial center permanently.

The building was awarded 'Most Beautiful Office Building' by Manila's city government in 1928, a recognition that speaks to its architectural significance. Early tenants included department store Berg's, leather goods retailer Riu Hermanos, and various financial offices. In 1933, the French and Panamanian consulates maintained offices here.

The First United Building is Manila's finest example of Art Deco architecture. Unlike the Burke Building's restraint, the First United embraces decorative elements within art deco principles. The facade features geometric patterns, stylized ornamentation, and careful attention to proportional relationships.

The building features a glass facade (revolutionary for 1928 Manila) and an Otis elevator--again showing how imported technology symbolized modernity. The vertical lines of the facade emphasize height, a crucial art deco strategy to make tall buildings appear even taller.

More significantly, the building's design shows how deeply international architecture had penetrated Manila by the late 1920s. The First United Building isn't a 'tropical' or 'colonial' building--it's an international modernist statement that could stand in any cosmopolitan city of the era.

The 1945 Battle of Manila devastated Escolta. The district was fought over block by block. Many buildings were destroyed entirely. The First United Building, along with its 'sister' building the Regina, survived bombing but sustained significant damage. That it survived at all is remarkable. The scars of war likely remain in the building's interior structure, though they've been repaired and rebuilt over the decades.

After the war, Manila's financial center gradually moved to Makati. Escolta's prime had passed. The First United Building didn't disappear, but its status changed. In the 1970s and 1980s, it became a hub for film production studios. Production companies like NV Productions, RVQ Productions, GC Films, and Essex Films operated from the building's offices and spaces.

This transition reveals how buildings adapt when original purpose declines. The First United Building hosted the Philippine film industry in its offices--a different kind of commercial vitality than finance, but vitality nonetheless.

In 1979, the Syliante ng family bought majority shares of the First United Building. Their patriarch, Sy Lian Teng, desired to preserve the building's history. In 2015, the First United Building Community Museum opened, housing a collection of historical photographs and archival materials documenting the building's history and Escolta's role in Manila's development.

In 2016, the building experienced conscious revival. New creative tenants moved in: The Den Coffee & Contemporary Culture (a coffee shop and artist space), Fred's Revolucion (an artist-run bar), and HUB: Make Lab (an incubator for creative startups). These ventures represent a new model for historic buildings: preserve the heritage while creating living, contemporary uses.

The building remains functional, inhabited, and used by creators rather than abandoned as a museum piece. This is the most successful approach to urban heritage preservation.

The building is accessible from the street. Walk past, observe the exterior facade, note the chamfered corner that marks the entrance. The building is functional (commercial tenants occupy it), so you can enter the lobby area. The Otis elevator is visible inside, though no longer functional. Spend 15 minutes here; this is primarily an exterior viewing experience.

The First United Building is more accessible and welcoming. The ground floor has contemporary tenants (The Den Coffee is excellent for coffee and people-watching). The building occasionally opens for heritage tours (check with The Den about availability). The Community Museum is located inside, though its hours are limited.

Spend 1-2 hours here if you have time. Drink coffee, explore the building's interior spaces, look at the archival photographs in the museum. The building conveys a sense of lost grandeur in a way that's poignant rather than sad--the building has found new purpose while honoring its past.

The Burke and First United buildings are melancholic monuments to urban change. They were built with confidence that Escolta would remain the center of Manila forever. They represented the cutting edge of modern technology and architecture. And then history moved on.

But their survival is also hopeful. These buildings didn't disappear; they adapted. They house different businesses than originally intended, but they house businesses. They're worn and weathered, but they're still standing. They retain dignity and beauty even as they've been superseded.

This is what happens to great buildings: they outlive their original purpose but can persist by finding new uses. The Burke and First United buildings aren't nostalgic relics. They're proof that heritage and modernity can coexist, that the past can remain visible even as the present builds something new.