Pap: Finance and Legislative Buildings, Intramuros Walls, Recoletos Church – Manila, Philippines c. 1946/1947

I’ve been on a little hiatus from my daily photo posts after reaching a frustrating stumbling block in identifying historical sites in Manila.  Thanks to the kindness and knowledge of John Tewell, who is currently posting a collection of historical photographs on Flickr, I’ve now got some clarification.   I highly recommend you check out his Flickr photostream for a ton of historical photographs of Manila, the Philippines and World War II.

Today’s picture is not merely another shot of the ruined Finance Building (center).  In fact, there are a few historical sites in this picture.  On the right is a corner of the Legislative Building.  Like the previous picture showing the couple with the Legislative Building in the background, this picture was probably taken from on top of the Jai Alai building.  Taft Avenue is in the lower right of this picture.  John Tewell pointed out that you can see the walls of Intramuros in the distance, as well as Recoletos Church (established 1608), in the distance between the Finance Building and Legislative Building. I can’t help but notice how desolate and torn up this area looks.

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