By Vincent Cabreza
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:48:00 09/14/2008
BAGUIO CITY, Philippines—A television crew from Chicago is preparing to film a documentary on the life of American architect and urban planner Daniel Burnham, who built this mountain city and parts of Manila at the turn of the century.
Baguio City is celebrating its centennial in September 2009, the same month Chicago is honoring the Burnham Plan Centennial, according to a series of letters from Chicago relayed to Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. and the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The American film crew has already requested access to the records and relics of Burnham’s plans and work during the American colonial period in the Philippines.
Burnham, born in New York City in 1846, also planned the remodeled Chicago in 1909. He is described in the architectural industry as one of the most influential urban designers of the century. When he died in 1912, his DH Burnham & Co. was recognized as one the biggest architectural firms in the world.
Burnham Park, one of the top destinations in Baguio, was named after its designer.
There is also a Burnham Park in Chicago.
Lourdes Yparraguirre, acting assistant secretary of the DFA’s office of American affairs, advised Bautista in a letter that the Archimedia Workshop of Chicago has discussed a January 2009 visit to Baguio with Blesila Cabrera, the Philippine consul general to Chicago.
“The television program would include Burnham’s work in planning the cities of Manila and Baguio. [Archimedia] is also looking into the possibility of showing the Burnham film in Baguio City during its centennial celebration next year,” Yparraguirre said.
The Baguio Centennial Commission has been tasked to work out the details.
The city has no formal sisterhood ties with Chicago despite this shared heritage although the city council approved a resolution in June to open talks with Chicago officials.
Massive conservation
The communiqué has prompted officials here to proceed with a massive conservation drive before the centennial.
The city plans to recover vital historical relics, including its only copy of the 1909 city charter that was donated in the 1980s by the heirs of the late American Justice George Malcolm, who is credited with penning the document.
The original charter is reportedly missing, although the city government has not formally acknowledged the loss.
Burnham Park is undergoing rehabilitation to reflect the Chicago architect’s original vision for the place.
Still a major recreation center for the city’s 300,000 residents, Burnham Park was in utter disrepair until the early part of 2008 when civic groups offered to rebuild portions of the park.
Emphasis on open spaces
A committee has been busy developing a new children’s playground here while schools offered to tend to other natural parks outside downtown Baguio.
Burnham is known for his neoclassical buildings and emphasis on wide-open spaces. In Chicago he built one of the first skyscrapers and led the way in comprehensive city planning, referred to as the City Beautiful movement.
At the turn of the century, Burnham drew up a plan for Manila although it was not fully implemented. His City Beautiful movement is also said to have influenced the design and planning of Cebu and other Philippine cities.