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SPANISH COLONIAL ARCHITECTURE

PREPARED BY: ARCHT. DAVID A. BAUTISTA, UAP, PIA
The Urban Divide:
Houses of Bahay na Bato and houses made of nipa both existed
The houses made of nipa were flammable, so Manila was zoned
Zonas de mamposteria (stone edifices)
Zonas de nipa y cana (nipa and bamboo)
Divisoria (dividing link)

Building Types:

1. Bahay na Bato

Main spaces of the Bahay na Bato
Puerta : main door
Zaguan : garage for the caruaje
Bodega : store room
Entresuelo : mezzanine on ground floor
Meseta or descanso : stairway landing
Caida : ante-sala at top of stairway
Sala: living room
Comedor : dining room
Cocina : kitchen
Galeria : volada / wooden gallery
Dispensa : pantry
Latrina : toilet
Bano : bath (separate from toilet)
Azotea : outdoor terrace beside a balon (well) or an aljibe (w
Aljibe : water cistern
Cuarto, alcoba, dormitorio : bedroom
Balcon : balcony
Patio : courtyard
Escalera : staircase
Ventanilla : small window below main window
Barandillas : carved ballusters in stair railing
Pasa mano : window sill
Calado : carved open screen above interior walls
Media agua : secondary roof/eave above windows
Espejo : transom above windows
Haligi : wooden pillars
Bandejado : wood panel wood sidings adorned with oval or rectangular tray-like
forms
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Stylish categorization of Bahay na Bato:
a. Geometric Style
Narrow roof eaves
Galeria volada to shield out sunlight
Dual sets of sliding shutters
Concha (shell) : outer shutter
Persiana (window shade / louver) : inner shutter
Plastered brick wall separating volada from adjacent room
Minimal dcor, minimum number of pillars
False ceilings and wood wall

Variations: in Vigan, 2
nd
floor walls are plastered bricks (lime mortar)
encased in wooden frames because of earthquakes
































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b. Floral Style
Thinner posts with bracing and prohibition of curved lines
Volada : open gallery
G.I. sheets and wider roof eaves
Broadened calados
Abundant floral motifs






































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2. Church and Conventos
simple, patterned after early Christian types; either rectangular or cruciform with
simple naves and aisles
thick walls reinforced with heavy buttresses for earthquakes protection
immense sizes because of colonial policy which dictated that a church should be
built for every 5000 baptized
materials used include: volcanic tuff (adobe), hardened lava, volcanic ejecta,
sandstone, river boulders, clay, corals, limestone, oyster shells, eggs

SIGNIFICANT EXAMPLES

a. PAOAY CHURCH, Ilocos Norte

































built in 1694 by Antonio
Estavillo, completed
1702-1710
faade: rectangular,
with arched doorway,
four continuous pilasters
alternating with niches
finials and crenellations
at pediment niche at the
apex
huge volutes with low
relief lines tracing the
contour to disguise the
large buttresses

Buttresses with volutes
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b. STA. MARIA CHURCH, Ilocos Sur





























c. SAN SEBASTIAN CHURCH, Manila














Bell tower and Buttresses
constructed late 18th
century, 85 steps
leading to the church
was built by Augustinian
Benigno Fernandez

massive brick church
perched on a hill

faade has circular
buttresses, three
openings and a blind
niche, semi-circular
pediment

a church built for all times after
previous churches were damaged
by earthquakes in 1863 and 1880
designed in the Gothic style
(without flying buttresses) by
Genaro Palacios in Revivalist
architecture
made entirely of steel; plans were
sent to Belgium where the parts
were made in sections then
transported to Manila
interiors were painted to resemble
faux marble; adorned with
sculpture by Eusebio Garcia and
painting by Lorenzo Rocha

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d. SAN AUGUSTIN CHURCH, Manila












































oldest church in the Philippines; built 1587-1607 by Juan Macias according to
the plans approved by the Royal Audencia de Mexico and by a Royal Cedula
1854 : Don Luciano Oliver (Municipal Architect of Manila) directed the
renovation of the faade by adding to the height of the towers; these towers
were damaged in the 1863 earthquake and were never rebuilt
plaza adorned with Fu dogs represents colonial urban planning
High Renaissance : superpositioned Tuscan orders at first level, Corinthian
capitals at second level; circular windows at plain pediment; heavily carved,
two-paneled main door with images of St. Augustine and St. Monica amidst
Philippine flora
nave is flanked by 12 collateral chapels each housing a Baroque or
NeoClassic retablo
Baroque elements include trompe loeil : sculpture by Italian artists Cesare
Dibella and Giovanni Alberoni on the ceiling and pilasters
cloisters built around an atrium with a garden planted by Augustinian botanist
Manuel Blanco interior is cavernous bur drab with stout piers and semi-
circular apse : mathematical exactness rather than ornamentation
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e. MIAGAO CHURCH, ILOILO












































present church was built
1786-1797 under the
supervision of fray Francisco
Gonzales Maximo; a storey
was added to the left belfry in
1830
also served as fortress
against Muslim pirates,
simple and massive structure
mixed with ornate details
local botanical motifs at
faade reliefs reminiscent of
cookie cutouts (de gajeta),
used to describe 16th century
Mexican architectural reliefs

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f. BARASOAIN CHURCH, Bulacan

























1871-1878 : stone church was constructed to
replace wooden structure; 1880 earthquake
ruined the church
1885 : Augustinian Juan Giron commissioned a
builder named Magpayo to rebuild the church
variation on the circle motif
flutings on pilasters with ends blunted into
semicircles detract from the NeoClassical
belltower has a cubic base, three layers
accented by blind and open windows, top has
crenellations and six-sided cone