Note 20 — Chapter VIII · The Philippines Three Hundred Years Ago.

The Spanish Buildings of the City.—The buildings of the city, especially the Casas Reales and the churches and monasteries, had been durably erected of stone. Chirino claims that the hewing of stone, the burning of lime, and the training of native and Chinese artisans for this building, were the work of the Jesuit father, Sedeño. He himself fashioned the first clay tiles and built the first stone house, and so urged and encouraged others, himself directing, the building of public works, that the city, which a little before had been solely of timber and cane, had become one of the best constructed and most beautiful in the Indies.20 He it was also who sought out Chinese painters and decorators and ornamented the churches with images and paintings.