Life TheaterLife Theater is a Important Cultural Property, National Museum (pertaining to facade); Work of National Artist for Architecture Pablo S. Antonio located at Manila, Metro Manila, National Capital Region.
Auditorium and lobby, as well as the reconstruction and enlargement of interiors are collective works of Architect Antonio.
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The still extant Life Theater in Quiapo, Manila, built in 1941, exemplifies Antonio’s strong, elegant, formal yet playful fusion of design elements to underscore the fantastic allure of the cinema. The Spartan white facade fuses Art Deco Streamlining with Neo- classical references with its exaggeratedly scaled round columns tipped by a conical final. Badly damaged by war, Life Theater was resurrected using the original design but enlarged by Pablo Antonio to accommodate a seating capacity of 1,200. Life Theater became the only first class cinema that devoted itself exclusively to the showing of Filipino films. (Source: The Architectural Legacy of Pablo S. Antonio: 1901-1975)