Architecture, as practiced in the Philippines during the Spanish era, was not by virtue of an academic title. There were no architectural schools in the country and the only architects with academic degrees were Spaniards. However, the first Filipino recorded architect was Felix Roxas y Arroyo of Binondo, Manila. The closest the Filipino could aspire to practice as an architect was as Maestro de Obras or Master Builder. The first academic school to train these maestros was the Escuela Practica y Professional de Artes y Officio de Manila, founded by the Spanish government in 1880. In 1900 the first private school to offer an academic title for Maestro de Obras was the Liceo de Manila.

From the early 1930s to the late ‘50s, associations of architects came and went, but three of these survived until the early ‘70s. These were: the League of Philippine Architects (LPA), the Association of Philippine Government Architects (APGA), and the Philippine Institute of Architects (PIA).

The profession of Architecture was given its first separate statute on June 17, 1950 with the enactment of Republic Act 545, “An Act to Regulate the Practice of Architecture in the Philippines.”