Escolta was the commercial spine of prewar Manila, and its landmark was the Capitol Theater at No. 250 — a setback ziggurat tower in pale grey cement render, a vertical CAPITOL sign caged in near-black cast iron, and two low-relief Filipinas held in rectangular reserves.

This system takes the street literally. The page is sunlit render, the structure is black ironwork, and the heat is one oxide red borrowed from the First United Building's trim. Everything is bilaterally symmetric and stepped; nothing curves and nothing is gilded.