One of the monumental transformations of the University of Santo Tomas was its transfer from Intramuros to the present day campus in Sampaloc. With the expansion of classes and inadequacy of the Intramuros campus to hold them, it was decided to construct a big edifice that can house the students. In a very timely manner, a land was donated by Francisca Bustamante Bayot to the Dominican fathers in 1911. With the plan of transfer, the construction of the very first structure known today as the UST Main Building in the new 21 hectare campus was made.
It was on December 18, 1911, Monday, that the first cornerstone of the new edifice together with a casket filled with documents, coins, the day’s newspaper, and other mementoes was laid on the new UST Sampaloc campus. The event was attended by very important guests from both civil and ecclesiastical groups in the country. Though the laying of the cornerstone was made in 1911, the actual construction began in 1920 due to financial problems faced by the university. When the actual diggings began for the foundation of the building, a mystery was unraveled. The cornerstone and the casket were missing and cannot be found in spite of efforts to trace it. Both were lost forever.
The UST Main Building was designed by the Dominican priest Fr. Roque Ruaño, O.P., a licensed engineer and professor in the Faculty of Engineering. He was also the architect of the Dominican House and College in Bagiuo, Dominican College in Lingayen and a Catholic Church in Kobe, Japan. The building was erected at the center of the new campus. A budget of one and a half million pesos was used and 200 Pampango workers together with Fr. Ruaño himself constructed it. Though the exteriors remained the same, the building interiors were continually altered during the construction. Some spaces were widened and shrunk to accommodate new areas. Ruaño never learned until it was completely finished that his design will be one of the country’s finest buildings and landmarks and will be a masterpiece in the history of Philippine architecture. Having a background on earthquake studies, Ruaño experimented and combined the two types of foundation namely spaced footing and isolated footing on the building. It was composed of forty smaller edifices joined together with loose concrete that will rock independently in case of earthquake. For the record, the UST Main Building is the first earthquake-resistant building in the Philippines.
It first opened in the 1927-1928 school year and originally housed the colleges of Philosophy, Pharmacy, Education, Liberal Arts and Medicine. It contained the library, laboratories, paraninfo or auditorium (now the UST Museum) and offices. The structure is comprised of four floors with a huge tower at the center. It is made of concrete extending to a length of 86 meters, a depth of 74 meters and a height of 49 and a half meters. It has 850 large capitals and bases, seven concrete stairways, two Spanish patios and walls as if built with columns. Placed above it is a huge clock and three big statues personifying the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity. At the very top of the tower, a cross is placed overlooking the entire campus. This cross symbolizes the Catholic mission of the university in the country. During the rectorship of Fr. Angel de Blas, O.P. in 1949, statues sculpted by Francesco Monti were placed on the sides of the fourth floor of the building. Among the statues were St. Augustine, Plato, St. Albert the Great, William Shakespeare, Lope de Vega, and Moliere to symbolize the spiritual and intellectual aspirations of the university.
Sources:
Lim-Pe, Josefina. The University of Santo Tomas in the Twentieth Century. Manila: UST Press, 1973.
Torres, Jose Victor. In Transition The University of Santo Tomas during the American Colonial Period (1898-1935). Manila: UST Publishing House, 2007.
