The Philippine Islands' building, designed by G. C. Fenhagen, consulting architect to the Philippine government, showed off island materials. It was mostly one story, with two over the administrative front. There were long flat walls with rows of windows of translucent capiz shell under broad eaves, a low red-tile roof, and a porch of sixteen natural palma-brava trunks. Two ancient brass cannon stood in front. Wings 40 feet wide and 248 feet long bent at right angles around a patio, where the Philippine Constabulary Band of 90 musicians played, and met at a conservatory of more than 2,000 orchids.
Visitors saw a hardwood reception hall and, to the left of the entrance, Filipino women weaving piña cloth. The Official Guide describes a left wing of native handicrafts with workers and a right wing of scientific, printing and public-works displays.
At a glance
- Cost $63,850; appropriation $250,000.
- Dedicated February 26, 1915.
- Orchid conservatory of more than 2,000 plants.
Afterward
Not recorded in Todd; one modern claim that it was saved is unverified.
Sources
- Frank Morton Todd, The Story of the Exposition, vol. III (1921), ch. LVIII, pp. 311-312
- Frank Morton Todd, The Story of the Exposition, vol. III (1921), ch. LXXVI, pp. 376-381
- Official Guide of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915), pp. 51-53
- Museum of the City of San Francisco, Panama-Pacific International Exposition Map (1915), Philippine Is. south of the Federal Concourse