Rediscovering The Best of Historic #Manila One Step At A Time! #AvidaPrime

To celebrate Avida's launching of their third and final tower in Prime Taft, Avida curated a special tour for the bloggers called Prime Perspective with sir Ivan Man Dy of Old Manila Walks, capturing the greatness and life of Historic Manila.
The talk was based on a specially-curated MAPA Prime Manila map to showcase the vibe of the property’s unique location and offer different perspectives on the best of urban living, owing to the development’s proximity to three major cities such as Malate, Makati, and Pasay.

Prime Taft is Avida's 3rd project in Manila. They've already launched 3 projects, situated in San Larazo, called the Prime Tower San Lazaro - a 5-tower project( 99% sold ).
The other one is in Paco, Manila which is still on-going and the turnover will be the third quarter of next year. Prime Taft is the most recent, which was launched back in 2011.
Overall, there are more than 4,891 units sold by Avida and  the total investment of Avida Land is 7 billion already. Avida realizes the potential of Taft’s strategic location to a growing number of urbanites and has developed the Avida Towers Prime Taft in a secure community along Taft Avenue.

Since my little brother studied in De La Salle Univiersity, I had the chance to explore places like Harrison Plaza and stores situated around that building. Luneta was our go-to when I was younger and after seeing the MAPA Manila map, I realized now that there are still lots of places waiting to be discovered. A special encounter – an exchange – between two strangers, between me and the city of Manila.
Old Manila Walks helps people like me, who dreams of experiencing a one of a kind heritage walks in the city's oldest neighborhood. Sir Ivan Dy was our perfect tour guide and the planner because he really knows his academic stuff too well.

When I saw these places, I found myself discovering new things from the old ones. Got a new "perspective" on how these places has evolved in time.

Our itinerary was to explore 3 old places and best-kept secrets of Manila, like the museum along Padre Faura St. in Malate -The Museum of a History of Ideas, where the old and original campus of UP Manila is located. It's one of the favorite places of sir Ivan to walk around because of its interesting character with old buildings and decades old trees.
The other one was in Pasay - The Avellana Art Gallery and a fashion gallery of Project Runway’s Jojie Lloren inside the Hotel Henry Manila, famous for their compounds and some of them are not open to the public as they are still being used for family dwellings.
The third was the ancestral house of the National Artist for Architecture Pablo Antonio.

According to sir Ivan, the place-to-be back then was Pasay/Malate. Pasay was the place that people lived in, just before World War 2, before the progression of Makati. 

I found myself loving all the photos I took that has interesting old buildings and antiquities throughout the duration of the tour, with the essence of  the place that relates the new development of the vicinity. It's like I was being brought back to the 50's.

Our second stop was the The Avellana Art Gallery and a fashion gallery of Project Runway’s Jojie Lloren inside the Hotel Henry Manila.
A little bit of history about Henry Hotel : The compound was built in the 1950's and the four sons, along with their own families, lived in the same compound. They sold their business to prevent the Marcoses from acquiring it.
So, anyway, when a hotelier was walking around and saw the place, a brilliant idea came ot his mind of turning the place into a hotel, thus, Henry Hotel was born.
Up until the 80's, this oldest compound as well as the oldest art gallery which is the Avellana Art Gallery, was rented by a lot of the artistic types such as designers.

This is called MACHUCA TILES, same tiles used in UST

For the final stop, we explored the ancestral house of the National Artist for Architecture Pablo Antonio.
Pablo Antonio was a brilliant man and was able to finish a 5-year architecture course in a span of 3 years only.
He did the facade of the main building of FEU. Also he did the White Cross Orphanage in Mandaluyong. Theaters were his masterpieces and one of them was IDEAL. He had this philosophy of tropical architecture, achieving thermal comfort through the use of passive design elements like sunshades, cavity walls, light shelves, overhangs, roof and wall insulation and even shading from large trees to block the sun. It can look very traditional, but also a bit of modern touch. He was a very modernist in his time. He also designed the Manila Polo Club and train stations that used to run from Manila to Baguio.

We were truly fortunate to have a good and interesting tour guide, sir Ivan, who explains very well.
Definitely worth the time investment, because it was very insightful into the history and we were offered to see behind those large walls of history. Sir Ivan was very generous with his time, energy and knowledge. An eye-opener for all of us and made me love my country a bit more.

Since I got the 2nd place for the best photos on Instagram during our Manila photo adventure, I am now entitled to a tour for two with the great sir Ivan Man Dy of Old Manila Walks and experience once again the best of historic Manila- One step at a time.

Thanks again Avida Land, for letting us rediscover Old Manila and unearth the hidden gems within Manila which highlights the modernity, heritage and urban culture of the community surrounding Avida Towers Prime Taft!

To date, Avida has 77 projects in 29 locations nationwide, comprising of more than 60,000 homes. 

Visit www.avidaland.com to learn more about “Urban Places, Vibrant Spaces”