Fort San Pedro Fuerza de San Pedro is a military defence structure , built by Spanish and indigenous Cebuano labourers under the command of Spanish conquistador , Miguel López de Legazpi and the Spanish Government in Cebu . It is located in the area now called Plaza Indepedencia , in the Pier Area of Cebu City , Philippines . The smallest , oldest triangular bastion fort in the country was built in 1738 to repel Muslim raiders . In turn , it served as a stronghold for Filipino revolutionaries near the end of the 19th century . This served as the nucleus of the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines . The fort is triangular in shape , with two sides facing the sea and the third side fronting the land . The two sides facing the sea were defended with artillery and the front with a strong palisade made of wood . The three bastions were named La Concepción ( SW ) ; Ignacio de Loyola ( SE ) , and San Miguel ( NE ) . It has a total inside area of . The walls are high , thick and the towers are high from the ground level . The circumference is . The sides are of unequal lengths and the one fronting the city is where one may find entry into the Fort . Fourteen cannons were mounted in their emplacements most of which are still there today . Work first started on May 8 , 1565 with Miguel Lopéz de Legazpi breaking ground . Little was known about the activity of the fort from the time it was built until two centuries later in 1739 when the King of Spain , Philip II desired information regarding the island of Cebu , Governor General Tanon , who was the Spanish ruler of the Islands at the time made the following reports : " Fuerza San Pedro , the fort is described as built of stone mortar with a terraplein where guns are mounted . The fort contains the necessary buildings . The largest of these buildings was the " Cuerpo de Guardia " where the personnel that manned the fort lived . Adjacent to it was the " Vivende del Teniente " which was the living quarters of the lieutenant of the Fort . In between the aforementioned buildings is a well . At one corner attached to the walls of the bastion San Miguel ( NE ) was the " Alamazaros del Rivera " ( powder magazine where the fort ' s supply or arms and gunpowder from Manila were stored ) . " Timeline . The date of construction of the stone fort is uncertain . Although there are claims that a Jesuit Antonio Campioni built a stone fort in 1630 , and the gate of fort bears the date 1738 together with the arms of Castile and Leon . It is certain , however , that the fort underwent major renovations in the late 19th century as part of a building program to improve Cebu City . The victory of the Americans led by Commodore Dewey at the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898 marked the end of the Spanish era in the Philippine Islands . The fort was then surrendered by the Spaniards to the Cebuano revolutionaries . Fort San Pedro became a part of the American Warwick Barracks during the American Regime . In later years from 1937 to 1941 the barracks was converted into a school where many Cebuanos received their formal education . During World War II from 1942 to 1945 , Japanese residents of the City took refuge within the walls . When the battle to liberate the City of Cebu from the Imperial Japanese forces was fought , the fort served as an emergency hospital for the wounded . From 1946 to 1950 , Fort San Pedro was an army camp . After 1950 , the Cebu Garden Club took over and fixed the inner part and converted it into a miniature garden . Although already in ruins , the upper deck was utilized for different offices . First , as a clinic of the City Health , as office of the Presidential Arm and Community Development then the City Public Works Unit used the ruins of the Lieutenant ' s Quarters as its field office . In 1957 Mayor Sergio Osmeña Jr . jolted the public with his announcement to demolish Fort San Pedro and erect on the spot a new City Hall . This started a movement against the demolition idea . Articles voicing opposition appeared in the local dailies and magazines in Cebu City and in Manila . Finally , confronted by civic leaders and society heads at his Cebu City Hall office , he gave up his idea and said he will use instead the space behind the fort . In the very same year , the city council commissioned " The Lamplighter " , a religious sect , to manage a zoo subsidized by the city within the fort courtyard . By 1968 , the facade , quarters and walls of the original structures of Fort San Pedro were so obliterated that only the two towers were recognizable . Plans for the restoration of the fort was started and the zoo was relocated . Plans and estimates for the restoration of the fort were completed by Architect Leonardo Concepcion , who had completed his Master of Arts in Restoration in Madrid . The project was jointly funded by the Board of Travel Industry ( now Department of Tourism ) , the Cebu City Government , and the Cebu Zonta Club . The Fort San Pedro Restoration was a tedious , time and labor consuming project . To restore the fort as close to the original as possible , coral stones which were hauled from under the sea along Cebu coastal towns were utilized . Delivered crudely cut to the restoration site , the fort laborers did the final cutting and polishing to make the blocks fit each other . Work progressed slowly but the facade , the main building , ( Cuerpo de Guardia ) , the walk and the observatory roof garden were faithfully restored after one and a half years . To make the project functional ; the restored main building serves then as the Cebu Office of the Department of Tourism , the Lieutenant ' s Quarters now houses a museum , the inner court is an open air theater and its immediate vicinity as a park . At present , it is under the care and administration of the City of Cebu , as historical park . The land on which it is situated is , however , owned by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources . These days , part of the fort is a museum . Inside the fort houses the legacies of the Spanish Government . The well preserved Spanish artifact s such as Spanish document s , paintings and sculpture . A large statue of Legazpi and Antonio Pigafetta may be seen outside the fort walls .