The William A. Jones Memorial Bridge, commonly known as the Jones Bridge, is an arched girder bridge that spans the Pasig River in the City of Manila, Philippines. It is named after the United States legislator William Atkinson Jones, who served as the chairman of the U.S. Insular Affairs House Committee which had previously exercised jurisdiction over the Philippines and the principal author of the Jones Law that gave the country legislative autonomy from the United States. Built to replace the historic Puente de España (Bridge of Spain) in the 1910s, the bridge connects Quintin Paredes Road at the Binondo district to Padre Burgos Avenue at the Ermita district.
Originally designed by Filipino architect Juan M. Arellano using French Neoclassical architecture, the first incarnation of the bridge features three arches resting on two heavy piers, adorned by faux-stone and concrete ornaments, as well as four sculptures on concrete plinths allegorically representing motherhood and nationhood. The original bridge was destroyed during the World War II by retreating Japanese troops and was reconstructed in 1946 by the U.S. and Philippine public works. The reconstructed bridge retained the three arches and two piers but removed all of the ornaments. The bridge was first partially restored in 1998. In 2019, the City Government of Manila began a rehabilitation project to "restore" the Jones Bridge to its near-original design using Beaux-Arts architecture similar to that of Pont Alexandre III in Paris and the return of the 3 extant La Madre Filipina sculptures (the 4th requiring reconstruction).
First Jones Bridge (1919–1945)
The Jones Bridge was originally commissioned under the auspices of the City Government of Manila in 1919 before the Insular Government, through the Philippine Bureau of Public Works, later took over in finishing the bridge's construction in 1920. The bridge was intended to replace the Puente de España (Bridge of Spain), the first bridge built to cross the Pasig River constructed during the Spanish colonial era and the last incarnation of bridges that span the same location since 1630. It collapsed during the heavy rains of September 1914 that weakened the central pier collapsing the middle span of the bridge. The Puente, which was located at one block upriver at Calle Nueva (now E.T. Yuchengco Street), was temporarily kept open using a temporary truss bridge while the new bridge is being constructed at Quintin Paredes Street.
The construction of new bridges were part of a master plan of Manila Daniel Burnham, who wanted to give emphasis to the city's rivers and likened them to the Seine River in Paris and the canals of Venice. This plan was heavily implemented and supervised by William E. Parsons, but upon the passage of the Jones Act, Filipino architect Juan M. Arellano took over and finished the bridge's final design. Jones died in 1918 while the bridge was still being planned, and the Filipinos named the passageway for the lawmaker behind the law that gave the country autonomy from the United States.
Arellano designed the bridge in the style of the passageways constructed during Haussmann's renovation of Paris. He embellished the piers with a statues of boys on dolphins, similar to those on the Pont Alexandre III at the river Seine (which he had previously visited). Similar to the Parisian Pont, he marked both ends of the bridge with four plinths and commissioned a sculptor named Martinez to build four statues, called La Madre Filipina (The Philippine Motherland), which would be placed on the pedestals.
World War II
edit
The bridge was renamed to Banzai Bridge during the Japanese occupation, by virtue of Executive Order No. 41 issued by Philippine Executive Commission Chairman Jorge B. Vargas in 1942. During the Second World War, the Japanese Army bombed the bridge against the incoming American troops during the Battle of Manila. One of the four statues was permanently lost during the destruction. After the war, a Bailey bridge was set up as a temporary passageway for vehicles while the main bridge itself is being rebuilt.
