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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 ManilaPhilippines. 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 a legislative autonomy from the United States. Built to replace Puente de España (Bridge of Spain), the bridge connects Quintin Paredes Road at the Binondo district to Padre Burgos Avenue at the Ermita district.

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Originally designed by Filipino architect Juan M. Arellano using 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. 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 three original sculptures.

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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.[4] The bridge is intended to replace the Puente de España (Bridge of Spain), which was built by Spain in 1876 but was teared down beyond repair due to increasing traffic at the rapidly developing district of Binondo

 

The Puente, which was located at one block upriver at the Calle Nueva (now E.T. Yuchengco Street), was kept open 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 on the rivers of city and likened them to the river Seine 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 is still being planned, and the Filipinos named the passageway to the lawmaker for authoring the law that will give the country an autonomy from the United States.

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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 the 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 which would be placed on the pedestals.

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