Coconut Palace

Coconut Palace Ang Tahanang Pilipino
The Coconut Palace
Alternative names	Tahanang Pilipino
General information
Address	F. Ma. Guerrero Street
Town or city	Manila
Country	Philippines
Coordinates	14°33′19″N 120°58′48″E / 14.55522°N 120.980013°E / 14.55522; 120.980013
Completed	1978
Renovated	2010
Design and construction
Architect	Francisco Mañosa

The Coconut Palace, also known as Tahanang Pilipino (lit. Filipino Home), is a government building located on the campus of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, in Manila, Philippines. It was the official residence and the principal workplace of the Vice President of the Philippines during the term of Jejomar Binay.

It was commissioned in 1978 by former First Lady Imelda Marcos as a government guest house and offered to Pope John Paul II during the Papal visit to the Philippines in 1981 but the Pope refused to stay there because it was too opulent given the level of poverty in the Philippines. It cost 37 million Philippine pesos to build. It is owned by the government-owned and controlled corporation the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

The Coconut Palace is made of several types of Philippine hardwood, coconut shells, and a specially engineered coconut lumber apparently known as Imelda Madera. Each of the suites on the second floor is named after a specific region of the Philippines and displays some of the handicrafts these regions produce. The palace is located on F. Ma. Guerrero Street at the Cultural Center of the Philippines between the Folk Arts Theatre and the Sofitel Philippine Plaza. Before becoming the official residence of the Vice President, the palace was used for wedding receptions.

The palace is shaped like an octagon (the shape given to a coconut before being served), while the roof is shaped like a traditional Filipino salakot or hat. Some of its highlights are the 101 coconut-shell chandelier, and the dining table made of 40,000 tiny pieces of inlaid coconut shells. Highlighted as one of the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ most striking structures for its architecture and interiors, the palace celebrates the coconut as the ultimate “Tree of Life”. From the coconut's roots to its trunk, bark, fruit, flower and shell, the palace's design, form and ornamentation echo these elements.