At First United, the 1928 Art Deco building that had become ground zero for the street’s cultural renaissance, the focus is survivalIt was getting close to midnight, but the lights were still on at the First United Building, the 1928 Art Deco building that had become ground zero for the Escolta cultural renaissance: a loose movement of creative entrepreneurs who were trying to bring life back to Manila’s long-forgotten business district.
The First United building on Escolta Street in Manila, shot in February, is a sterling example of the Art Deco style. —PHOTOS BY EDWIN BACASMAS“We’re down to about 80-percent occupancy,” says Lorraine Sylianteng, whose husband Robert’s family owns First United. Rather than keep a heritage structure as a museum piece, adaptive reuse chooses to enliven it with human activity, such as shops, offices, restaurants, events—the stuff of life. Eventually, a community arises around the structure. In the process, the whole enterprise becomes sustainable.Escolta, Manila’s long-forgotten business district, was being revived until the pandemic hit.“We’ve tried to reinvent First United,” says Sylianteng.
The building was acquired by businessman Sy Lian Teng, who owned Berg’s, in 1979, and his heirs have been active in the reinvention of Escolta Street, once Manila’s central business district, into a cultural/tourism/leisure hub. The new owners have reportedly reached an agreement with the government, preserving at the very least the facade while allowing demolition of the rest to proceed.
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