Built in 1940, the former Finance Building in the City of Manila was designed principally by the Filipino architect Antonio Toledo, who received his training at the Brooklyn Institute of Technology, Ohio State University and Cornell. Toledo was a member of the Bureau of Public Works, the agency which was in charge of the construction of all government buildings during the American colonial era. He also designed the Manila City Hall. Heavily damaged during WWII, the Finance Building was rebuilt after the war by the construction and engineering company of A. M. Oreta. In 1998, it was renovated again in time for the Philippine centennial, this time to house part of the collection of the National Museum of the! Philippines. That part was the museum’s collection of Philippine archeological artifacts and what used to be the Finance Building is now the Museum of the Filipino People.
This post is dedicated to our good friends Vic Oreta, one of A. M. Oreta’s grandchildren, and his wife Cecile.
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