The National Museum (Former Legislative Building)

The National Museum
Brief History and Information

The national museum is not originally a museum. It was originally the former home of the Congress of the of the Philippines and before that it was originally planned to be the national library. It was originally designed by Antonio M. Toledo in 1918 and was the future home of the National Library according to the plan of Daniel H. Burnham. However, the Philippine Legislature decided to move in the building in 1926 so changes to the building's layout was done by Juan M. Arellano, so the building came to be known as the Legislative Building. During the WWII the building was damaged by Japanese bombardment and most of it was beyond repair however in the inauguration of the Republic of the Philippines, the building was reconstructed to be the home of the Congress. The senate used the building until May 1997 the building is know today as the National Museum and houses the National Art Gallery

Design Analysis

The national museum is Neocolonial inspired. Neocolonial is like a mashup of the other American Colonial styles. It is rectangular in plan, the facade has a temple like entrance, the wings of the building also feature pilasters, or flattened columns that is common to neocolonial architecture. A pediment is also present, most of the windows used in the structure are palladian windows. Dentil mouldings were also used and can be seen throughout the exterior of the building. While on the interior, a large open space is dedicated for the entrance, the hall of masters is also neocolonial in design since it features dentil moulding and pilasters.

Architect's Profile

Th architects of the National Museum is Ralph Harrington Doane and Antonio M. Toledo both membes of the now defunct Bureau of Public Works. I wasn't able to dig up much more information about them aside from that. Since they were not really renowned architects and their structure was just a government building.

Trivia  

The national museum is right now free of charge

There are three national museums, the former legislative building, finance building and tourism building

The legislative building houses the National Art gallery, The finance building is the Museum for the Filipino People, and the tourism building will be the Museum of Natural History

The building was rebuilt mostly from memory

Manuel L. Quezon swore on its front steps as the President of the Commonwealth

Why choose this building?

At first I chose this building because I thought it would be a piece of cake because it would be related to my report and I thought I would not have a hard time. However it proved to be the exact opposite since I had hard time finding information about its history. I had to buy a 110 pesos worth of brochures which was nothing short of being useless. However this does not mean I regretted my decision, I learned that the impression that the americans have left us made a mark not only in our history but in our culture as well. Choosing this building was a good decision for me since not only did I experience my report first hand but I also learned more about our culture and art. It was the first time I saw the spolarium and it conveyed a lot of different emotions. I also got to see different artworks that were made by fellow Filipinos. Ultimately I thought I chose this building because it would make it relatively easy for me and that it was a catch since I already have a background in American architecture but maybe subconsciously I was really interested in seeing American architecture for myself.