Juan Nakpil


Juan Felipe de Jesus Nakpil, known as Juan F. Nakpil, was a Filipino architect, teacher and a community leader. In 1973, he was named one of the National Artists for architecture. He was regarded as the Dean of Filipino Architects.

Biography

He was the eighth children of the Philippine Revolution veterans Julio Nakpil and Gregoria de Jesús. He died in Manila in 1986.

Education

He studied Engineering at the University of California and later, at the University of Kansas, where he received his bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering. He then studied Architecture at the Fontainebleau School of Fine Arts in France upon the recommendation of Jean Jacques Haffner, one of his professors at the Harvard Graduate School of Architecture.

Career

Nakpil worked at Andres Luna de San Pedro's architectural firm and at Don Gonzalo Puyat & Sons, opening his own architectural firm in 1930. Among Nakpil's works are San Carlos Seminary, Geronimo de los Reyes Building, Iglesia ni Cristo Riverside Locale, Magsaysay Building, Rizal Theater, Capitol Theater, Captain Pepe Building, Manila Jockey Club, Rufino Building, Philippine Village Hotel, University of the Philippines Administration and University Library, and the Rizal Shrine in Calamba, Laguna. He also designed the International Eucharistic Congress altar and improved the Quiapo Church in 1930 by erecting a dome and a second belfry. The church burned down in 1929 prior to Nakpil's redesign of the building. In the 1930s to the 1940s, Nakpil and his fellow architects Andres Luna de San Pedro, Fernando Ocampo and Pablo Antonio started the period of modern architecture in the Philippines. Nakpil and others also established the Philippine College of Design in 1941 but the institution did not survive the Second World War. He was hailed as a National Artist for Architecture in 1973.

Projects

Theaters