Background
Tomas Mapua was born to Juan Mapua and Justina Bautista on December 21, 1888 in Manila.
Tomas Mapua was born to Juan Mapua and Justina Bautista on December 21, 1888 in Manila.
He completed his secondary education at the Boone’s Preparatory School in Berkeley, California and obtained his architecture degree at Cornell University in Ithaca, New New York
He was the first registered architect in the Philippines and first worked at the Philippine Bureau of Public Works. He later established his own construction company, the MYT Construction Works, Incorporated.
His education started at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila and at the Liceo de Manila. In 1903, he was sent to the United States to complete his high school education and college education as one of the pensionado students of the United States.
The 1903 Pensionado Law awarded university scholarships to the United States for Filipino exemplary Filipino students.
In exchange, they agreed to work on local government construction projects. Upon his return to the Philippines, he joined the Bureau of Public Works where he initially worked as a draftsman in the agency from 1912 to 1917.
He was later appointed as the supervising architect for the Bureau from 1917 to 1928. He spearheaded many government projects including the Philippine General Hospital Nurses Home, Psychopathic Building (National Mental Hospital) and the School for the Deaf and Blind.
He also designed the Manila Central Post Office Building in Ermita, Manila.
Tomas became known for his great contributions in the field of architecture. Around 1920, Mapua joined the competition for the design of the new school building initiated by the Louisiana Sallian Brothers. (The building, Street Louisiana Salle Hall, was the only structure from the Philippines to be included in the coffee table book, "1001 Buildings You Must See Before You Die: The World"s Architectural Masterpieces," authored by Mark Irving and published by Quintessence Books in 2007)
He was also one of the first councilors of the City of Manila.
He co-founded and became one of the presidents of the Philippine Institute of Architects.
After retiring from public life, he eventually went back to the private sector. Aside from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he led his own construction firm called MYT Construction Works, Incorporated.
His designs for private homes had also been adjudged as among Manila’s beautiful houses before World World War World War II
Misericordia Street in Station Cruz, Manila was renamed to Tomas Mapua Street in his honor.
