THE LAW prohibits owners of buildings that are 50 years old or older from demolishing them, for any reason, because of heritage protection laws.
Since the law is very clear about that, and there is no way around it, these owners have to find a solution that would still enable them to make money from their assets, and yet still remain compliant with the law.
I think that the bottom line requirement of heritage conservation is to make sure that the appearance of the heritage buildings should still look generally the same, even if there would be allowable modifications here and there, meaning that there should be no serious departure from the original “look and feel.”
Although this subjective requirement falls under the category of a “grey area”, I think that keeping the “look” would be easier than keeping the feel”.
Keeping the “look and feel” is the general idea behind the concept of “adaptive use”. What that means is that the exterior and interiors of the heritage building could still look “practically” the same, but its present-day use would already be different.
I think one of the best examples of this concept is how the Grand Cafe 1919 was rebuilt from what used to be the old office of Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in Binondo, Manila. It used to be a bank, but now its use has been “adapted” to become a restaurant.
There are other local examples like the present-day Rizal Park Hotel that used to be the old Army and Navy Club; the present-day National Museum that used to be the old Congress Building; and the present-day Bureau of Treasury Building that used to be the old Customs House in Intramuros.
A common example is to restore an old house for it to become a new restaurant, such as Cafe Ysabel in San Juan City.
Even if the law is very clear, it is not clear how some property owners are practically “getting away” with the “crime”, in such a way that they are able to demolish their heritage buildings without being made to answer for what they have done.
That is probably what happened to the old Jai-Alai Building in Taft Avenue and the old Philam Life Building in United Nations Avenue.
If you know of other examples, please let me know.
