Angel E. Nakpil

Angel Ernesto Sancho Nakpil (1914 to 1980) belonged to the third generation of Filipino modernists who rebuilt Manila after the war under the credo that form follows function. A distinct figure from the National Artist Juan Nakpil, he finished architecture at the University of Santo Tomas in 1936, then pursued graduate study at Harvard University where he worked under Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius, earning a master's degree in regional planning in 1940.

His training in planning shaped an unusually broad career. He served as City Planning Commissioner of Manila during the reconstruction years of 1947 to 1949, and later led the University of Santo Tomas School of Architecture as dean from 1959 to 1961. He was a charter member of the United Architects of the Philippines in 1975 and a senior partner in the practice of Gabriel Formoso and Partners.

Nakpil's buildings were described as daring yet disciplined. His twelve-storey Picache Building in Quiapo has long been cited as the first true skyscraper in the Philippines, and his National Press Club Building on Magallanes Drive, with its cylindrical glass-sheathed stairway, became a landmark of Manila's press freedom. Other works include the former PLDT head office in Makati and the Lopez Museum Building in Pasay.