Marsman Building Corporation gets contract to build residence of American High Commissioner

Title

Language

English

Source

The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Volume XVIII (Issue No. 6) June 1938

Year

1938

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

34 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL June, 1938 Marsman Building Corporation gets contract to build residence of American High Commissioner Marsman Building Corporation, a Marsman subsidiary, was this month awarded the contract by the United States government for the building of the official residence of the Amer ican High Commissioner to the Phil ippines. The Marsman company landed the contract with a low bid of P440.794, competing against a field of three other builders, including the Santa Clara Lumber Company of Manila. The building, which Rep. Albert J. Engel of Michigan, described in Con gress as a “pretty good sized barn’’, will cover a large part of the 17.14acre of filled-in land on Dewey Bou levard. It will be three stories in height, and will contain 47 rooms, of which 27 will be used as offices for the Commissioner and his staff. The history of this project is in teresting, dating as it does back to the approval of the Tydings-McDuffie Act on March 24, 1934, providing for the independence of the Philip pines, and the evacuation of Malacanang by the Governor-General. At that time, a committee, composed of Colonel F. W. Manley, Commander J. E. Kiernan, A. D. Williams, E. D. Hester and C. TV. Franks was ap pointed to select a site for the Resi dence. After considering five pos sible sites, the committee chose the rectangular area of Manila Bay south of the Armv and Navy Club and the Elks Club. The Philippine Legislature then passed Act No. 4269, which provided for the dredging and filling-in of the area by the Philippine Govern ment. Costs of the seawall, land scaping, roads and drainage are borne by the United States, and it is estimated that these costs will not exceed three pesos per square meter. In 1935, Congress, in the Second Deficiency Appropriation Act, pro vided $750,000 for the construction of buildings (including a summer Residence at Baguio) for the High Commissioner, including acquisition of land, construction of buildings, and purchase of furnishings and equipment. Plans for the Manila Residence were drawn up by Mr. Juan Arellano, as Supervising Archi tect of the Bureau of Public Works here, in cooperation with Captain W. M. Allison, of the Quartermaster Corps, who had been designated as Constructing Quartermaster. These plans did not receive the im mediate approval of the State and War Departments at Washington. The Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department was called in, and he prepared sketches of floor plans which were sent back here for inspection by Messrs. Arellano and Allison. The plans were generally satisfactory, and were finally ap proved. Pedro Siochi and Company, Inc. submitted the low bid to the Bureau of Public Works for the construction of the seawall and boat landing ($40,800). Construction was com menced on December 31, 1936, and was supervised by Captain W. M. Allison and La Monte Clark, Cons truction Superintendent. Filling operations were commenced in Feb ruary, and completed in July, 1937. Settlement of the fill has been less than expected, and the site is now considered ready for construction activities. The whole project of the two Resi dences of the High Commissioner To Lovers of Rural Life MANDALOYON ESTATE WATCH FOR ANNOUNCE MENT ON THE MANDA LOYON IDEAL HOME Provides an ideal setting, Both serene and beautiful, Far removed from confusion, Yet only a stone’s throw from everything important Lots Sold as Low as from P0.60 to P2.00 per Square Meter ORTIGAS, MADRIGAL Y CIA. S. en C. FILIPINAS BUILDING MANILA TELEPHONE 2-17-62 Tune in on our regular Tuesday Night Program over Station KZRM from 9:00 to 9:30 P.M. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CH AMEER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL June, 1938 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 35 (Manila and Baguio) came in for a lot of Congressional criticism during the recent visit of Commissioner Mc Nutt to the United States. Some of this was directed at Mr. McNutt himself, although he had nothing whatever to do with the initiation of the project, selection of the sites or plans for the buildings. In fact, it is probable that he and his family will never occupy either building. Never theless, Mr. McNutt defended the outlay (comparatively large in view of Washington’s traditional niggard liness in the matter of residences for American representatives abroad) in these words: “The point must be considered that you are making pro vision for an office which represents American sovereignty in an Oriental community. So far as I am concern ed, I \vould be more comfortable in a smaller house out on Manila Bay, but we must think of the prestige of the High Commissioner.” The Manila Residence is expected to be (completed iabout January 1, 1940. REAL ESTATE By P. D. Carman BOULEVARD HEIGHTS Sta. Cruz . . . . Sampaloc............. May transfers were in excess of any May totals since 1918 with the exceptions of 1935 and 1937. The Janua ry-May total is how ever much lower than that of last year: 1938 P 5,763,601 1937 12,295,709 Sales City of Manila 1938 A i»il May P 96,364 P 311,502 129,551 92,499 Tondo ................... 57,217 325,325 Binondo ................ 99,325 553,768 San Nicolas . . . 23,840 32,866 Ermita................. 110,500 155,600 Malate.................. 180,701 78,721 Paco...................... 59,006 12,650 Sta. Ana.............. 50,303 27,044 Quiapo.................. 42,321 47,793 San Miguel .... 55.690 130,122 Intramuros .... 37,000 2,800 Sta. Mesa .... 4,000 — Pandacan .... 1,020 - P946,868 Pl,770,690 HOW TO SPELL IT A friend inquired of us the correct spell ing for Malacanan, whether it might not be Malacanang with a “g” ending. We LA UEBANA BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATION LOANS for the construction of buildings, and mortgages at moderate rates INVESTMENTS in shares of stock giving 6% dividends annually. Wei also issue savings shares from one peso-up monthly • PATERNO BLDG. SANTA CRUZ, MANILA referred the inquiry to Dr. Eulogio B. Rodriguez at the National library, who re turned this information: D. Agustin de la Cavada spells the name without the "g” in his geographical and statistical history of the Islands. This fol lows Clemente Cobarrubias in his Protocolo of 1825, Rodriguez San Pedro in his Legislacion Ultramarina, Governor General Ma nuel Crespo in a proclamation of 1856, the Cedulario for 1855 to 1857, and the his torical committee now marking such edi fices, who placed a marker on the palace about October 1935, using the term Mala canan Palace. Tagalogs in our office say there should be the “g” at the end, but they agree with us that the origin may be the vulgate may Iakan dian, translating into the great (or powerful) are (or live) there. This could easily shorten into Malakanyan, and this is the form that may be most nearly correct philologically, since there is no “c” in Tagalog and the "c” in Malacanan is reminiscent of Spanish. P. 0. BOX 138 TEL. 2-18-55 PURE PREPARED k PA NT OuLPM Whether your paint ing job is an in terior or exterior one, FULLER & CO. have a superior paint pro duct to suit your re quirements. FULLER PAINTS NORTON & HARRISON CO. KNEEDLER BUILDING MANILA, P. I. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION T1IE AMERICAS’ CI1 AM HER OE COMMERCE JOURNAL

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