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CASA BALIUAG 1
Name of the house: Baliuag House or Taberna del Señor Pepe
Owner of the house: Tolentino Family
(may not be the original Owner)
Original location: Baliuag Bulacan
Year of construction: 1898
Year of Reconstruction: 2007
The Baliuag house was originally located at the corner of
Poblacion and Burgos St. in Baliuag Bulacan, just across
the Baliuag Church. It once served as the municipal hall of
Baliuag in the 1950’s. The house originally had elaborate
adobe carvings at the façade. While the intricate wood
carvings at its bandejas (wood sidings) define its highly
floral motif. However, in time, the house became
abandoned and some of its architectural details were lost
and stolen.
CASA BALIUAG 2
Name of the house: Casa Baliuag 2
Original location: Baliuag, Bulacan
Year of construction:
Year of Reconstruction: 2006
The house was originally located within the compound
of the Iglesia ni Kristo in Baliuag, Bulacan.The structure has
a function hall used by Iglesia ni Kristo members.
CASA CAGAYAN
There presently stands four (4) houses along the shoreline
of the property, which were originally from Cagayan
province. During the early 1900’s, theses houses were
referred to as the Poor Man’s Houses
The typical house was built on stilts with the three trunks in
its natural shape used as a posts / columns, in order to give
its residents extra space for relaxation, storage and
livelihood activities.
CASA CANDABA
Name of the house: Casa Candaba
Owner of the house: Reyes Family
Original location: Candaba Pampanga
Year of construction: 1780
Year of Reconstruction: 2005
The mansion was originally owned by the Reyes family, one
of the most prominent families in Pampanga during the
1780’s and was used as the residence of the Spanish
Gobernador Heneral when visiting Pampanga.The mansion
was sturdy yet simple and devoid of external details.
However, the interior was neo-Gothic in influence, from the
arches, brackets and column details. In 1961, National Artist
for film JERRY DE LEON used the mansion as one of the
settings for his immortal epic “Noli Me Tangere” an
adaptation of the novel of our national hero, Dr. Jose
Rizal, wherein the mansion served as the residence of
Kapitan Tyago and Maria Clara. The last known owner
of the house was Estanislao Reyes in 1941.
CASA JAEN 1
Name of the house: Jaen House 1
Owner of the house: Esquivel Family
Original Location: Jaen Nueva Ecija
Year of construction:
Year of Reconstruction: 2007
This served as the residence of the first Mayor of Jaen.
CASA LUBAO
By CathyVitug Gamboa Engstrom
Arastia /Vitug Family
Lubao, Pampanga
1920
The Lubao House is my family’s ancestral home. My maternal
great grandparents,Valentin Arrastia & Francisca Salgado,
built the plantation house in Lubao, Pampanga in the early
1900s. It sat directly in front of the Lubao Municipal Hall.
From here they managed their rice and sugar hacienda and
raised nine children. They were a close knit family, and
though the children moved to Manila and other Pampanga
towns when they married, they often came home to visit.
The grandchildren relished summer breaks at the Lubao
residence. They enjoyed sleeping huddled together in
the living room and delighted in the visits of Apung Palu, an
elderly woman who entertained them with bedtime stories.
Valentin and Francisca died before World War II. Their
children maintained the Lubao House as the family provincial
home.
During the war, the Japanese took possession of the house
and used it as a garrison. They had planned to burn it down,
but a Japanese colonel stopped them because he had been
Francisca’s driver for ten years and he was beholden by the
kindness of the Arrastia family (it turns out he was one of
many Japanese soldiers who infiltrated Filipino communities
years before the war, pretending to be gardeners & drivers).
After the war, daughter Juanita Arrastia (my Lola) and her
husband, Dr. Wenceslao Vitug (Lolo), acquired the Lubao
House. She was the most sentimental about the family home
and was brokenhearted at the family’s decision to sell it. So
my Lolo gifted it to her by procuring a mortgage and buying
out the shares of her siblings. It became known as the
Arrastia-Vitug home. It was their secondary residence, their
primary home was in Manila. On weekends they drove out to
Lubao to manage the house and farm, and to attend to the
needs of the families that served them. The house remained
in Dr. & Mrs. Vitug’s family for three generations. The
original structure of the house had a wooden upper floor
and concrete ground floor, a variation of the “bahay na bato”
style of architecture – combining Filipino, Spanish and
American design elements. It had large rooms and high
ceilings. And in typical colonial design, it had a straight,
grand staircase that led directly up to the front door. But my
Lola was a very superstitious woman, and when illness hit
her young son, Luisito, she had the staircase torn down and
rebuilt with a twist and turn, facing away from the front gate.
A structure of lattice wood panels was also built around it to
prevent bad luck or negative energy from flowing directly
into the home.
Lola was also a big fan of the color green. To her it represented
wealth and good luck. She painted the Lubao House light green,
the front gate green, and she owned a green car. She also used to
warn us never to put a purse down on the floor or to handle
money at night because this was a sure way to lose one’s riches.
I have many fond memories of visiting my grandparents at
their Lubao home –spending summer weekends there; feeding
the ducks in Lolo’s pond; playing chase with my siblings and
cousins around the fruit trees; balancing along the fountain
perimeter in the front yard; exploring the secret stairwell that led
to the downstairs granary and caretaker’s quarters; swimming in
the small, cold and dark indoor pool at the back of the house
where Lolo did a hundred laps everyday; watching the town
barber give Lolo a clean shave and a military style haircut;
marveling at how Lola never ran out of orders to give the
staff…or us; “camping out” in the dining room at night and
watching fireflies; avoiding creepy corners and rooms where Lola
kept religious statues and artifacts; holding the urge to pee at
night so as not to encounter ghosts; watching the kitchen staff
chase down chickens, goats and pigs for the family parties;
fleeing in horror as the hired butcher (a.k.a. “Killer of Lubao”)
went to task slaughtering and cleaning out our meal-to-be; eating
on banana leaves; feasting on lechon, steamed shrimp and
savory Pampanga cuisine…and always ending with fresh buko
sherbet churned the old fashioned way.
The house was full of life and activity. As young children
we ran around the grounds feeling joyful and secure,
without a care in the world…knowing that our parents
and grandparents would take care of everything. But as
the years passed, our dear Lubao House grew shabby,
old and tired…as did my grandparents. We made less
frequent family visits to the old house. In the years after
Lolo & Lola died, it was mainly my Mom (Amelia Vitug
Gamboa) and her older sister (Lourdes Vitug Garcia) who
made periodic visits to the province to check up on the
house and farm. But even that came to pass. After my
Mom died in 2006, Tita Lourdes sold off the Lubao
House because it became too difficult to manage on her
own. The buyer tore the house down and transported
the wood and materials elsewhere. We all knew that the
house was gone. But nevertheless, when I visited our
Lubao property in 2008 I was crushed to find only a sad
and empty lot. In the summer of 2010 my sister, Therese,
sent me a newspaper ar tic le about our Vitug
grandparents, and it mentioned the transfer of the
Lubao House to a seaside town in Bataan. Research led
me to Las Casas Filipinas. I was happy to learn that the
buyer, Mr. Jerry Acuzar - a collector of century old
houses - had rebuilt the Lubao House in his cultural
heritage village.
On November 27, 2010 a group of us from the Arrastia-
Vitug clan made the trip out to Bagac, Bataan to see
what had been saved of our ancestral home. What we
saw was a beautiful restoration. Much of the original
structure and tr im work were preser ved, and
embellishments added charm and elegance. It was an
enjoyable experience to walk through the village, to be
brought back in time and see beautiful architecture, and
most of all to say hello again to our beloved Lubao
House – now known as “Casa Lubao”. As unfortunate as
it is that we couldn’t maintain it ourselves in its original
location, it is heartwarming to know that my family’s
ancestral home survives … standing proud and tall, and
in resplendent beauty.
My grandparents and great grandparents would be pleased.
CASA MEXICO
The materials used in the reconstruction of the Mexico
house came from the salvaged materials bought from the
junkshop.
The house was built based on an old photograph which the
owner used in reconstructing the house.
CASA LUNA
Name of the house: Luna House or the Novicio /
Santoromana House
Owner of the house: Norvicio / Santoromana
Original Location: Luna, La Union
Year of construction: 1850
Year of Reconstruction: 2007
The mansion was originally owned by a prominent Novicio
family of Namacpacan, La Union and it was built in circa
1850. Namacpacan, now named Luna, was named in honor
of the famous Luna brothers,Antonio, the general and Juan,
the painter, whose mother Laureana Novicio was the native
of the town. It was then mayor, Primitivo Novicio, owner of
the house and relative of Laureana, who passed a resolution
remaining Namacpacan to Luna under the incumbency of
Governor Joaquin Luna, and later, the Santoromana family
acquired the house from the Novicio.The house fronts the
plaza across the parish church of St. Catherine of Alexandria
and the convent and casa municipal. As in all towns
administered by the Spanish colonial government, the elite
families established their homes in the town center. The
immense symmetrical house was constructed on a square
plan typical of the Ilocano Bahay na Bato. The ground floor
was used as a cochera for the carriages and bodega for
garlic, onions and tobacco that were harvested at different
times of the year. There is entresuelo for servants. The
second floor, where the bedrooms are distributed around
the grand living room, is shielded by the volada on the entire
length of the facade. On the rear portion of the second
floor is a grand dining room serviced by an equally large
kitchen area with an azotea. Toilet and bath are located
adjacent to the azotea. The well that supplies the house
with water is below azotea, in the rear yard. The Novicio
house became a rendezvous of important gathering and
meeting during the liberation period on the latter part of
the Japanese occupation in 1942. also became a
headquarter of the United States Armed Forces in the
Philippines, Northern Luzon (USAFIL-NL), where they
planned the operation for the capture General Yamashita. In
the 1970’s, former president Ferdinand Marcos was guest
when a party convention was held in this house. In 2007, the
house eventually was abandoned and was moved and
architecturally restored in Brgy. Pag asa, Bagac, Bataan.
PASEO DE ESCOLTA
The strip of supposedly commercial structures are replicas
of the typical Escolta buildings in Manila during the early
1900’s. Buildings during said era had stores and shops on the
ground floor and hotels on the 2nd and 3rd floors which
then catered to transients and tourists.
The structures were built based on old photographs found
in magazine.A combination of old and new materials were
used in the construction of the houses. The rooms and
interiors were designed by the wife of the owner, Mrs.Tess
Acuzar, being an interior designerherself.The Casa Escolta
which has 17 rooms, all with individual toilets and baths,
serves as the hotel for the resort. Construction of the
structures started in 2007.
CASA BIZANTINA
The casa bizantina house is a bahay na bato at the corner of
Madrid and Penarubia streets in San Nicolas, Binondo.The
ground storey is built of stone and bricks while the upper
storeys were made of various Philippine hardwood. The
structure was typical of the bahay na bato in order to
protect the inhabitants from earthquakes. Galvanized iron
sheets are used for the roofing. A decade before the house
was built in 1890, the government enforced the use of
galvanized iron sheets instead of curved roof tiles as
additional protection also from earthquakes. Moreover, the
house is also representative of the proliferation of three
storey high structures in commercial downtown areas
outside Intramuros like Binondo. It also demonstrates the
characteristics of a “Floral” bahay na bato.Tinio and Zialcita
(1980), of the Philippine Ancestral Houses, wrote that the
Floral period for the Philippine ancestral houses flourished
during the time of the 1880s to the 1930s. Houses built
during the period were characterized by more elaborate
yet delicate embellishments in comparison to the previous
Geometric period. Floral houses, particularly those built
during the last few decades of the 19th century, made use
of revivalist styles in the form of influences from Neo-styles
of Renaissance, Baroque, Byzantine, Romanesque, Neo-
Mudejar (Tinio and Zialcita). De Viana (2001), in Three
Centuries of Binondo Architecture, argues that the house
is mainly influenced by Neo-Mudejar style, as indicated by
the moorish door transom on the exterior, which are
echoed in the interior wooden arches and transom
traceries.
Since floral houses used styles individually or in
combination, it is highly possible that both Neo-Bizantine
style and, to a lesser extent, Neo-Mudejar style influenced
the construction of the house. However, it is important to
note that Neo-Mudejar traces its origins in the Bizantine
style.
The house, along with the facade, built in 1890, was
created by Don Lorenzo del Rosario. Don Lorenzo was a
native principalia and one of the numerous building
contractors in Binondo (De Viana, 2001). In 1886, he won
the contract to renovate the Tribunal de Sangleyes. From
1914 to 1919, the house was leased out to Instituto de
Manila to hold elementary and high school classes. It was a
school until 1919 when the Instituto moved to its own
building at Sampaloc and expand to become The
University of Manila. After the Second World War, the
house was leased to various tenants. Until 2009, Casa
Bizantina was home to 50 squatters families. Later, it was
demolished and transferred to Brgy. Pag asa, Bagac,
Bataan.
CASA MEYCAUAYAN
Owner of the house: Escota / Manuel Urrutia
Original Location: San Fernando Pampanga Meycauayan Bulacan
Year of construction: 1913
Year of Reconstruction: 2005
Originally constructed 1913 in San Fernando, Pampanga,
the house was owned by the Escota family. Using exactly the
same materials and design, the house was reconstructed at
No. 50 Provincial Road, Barrio Hulo, Meycauayan, Bulacan
in the 1950’s and was later acquired by Rogelio Urrutia who
came from a prominent family in Meycauayan. This served
the venue for the family gatherings. Constructed out of
adobe stone on the ground floor and wood on the upper
floor in the typical “ Bahay na Bato” style, the house was
generally a classic example of the passive cooling
ventilation adopted throughout the entire structure.
Continuous media aguas (lower eaves) are found all
throughout the top of the second floor sliding windows.
Ventinillas (lower windows) were also secured with
decorative wooden grills. The house has exquisite Art
Noveau motif made of plain G.I. sheets.
CASA UNISAN
Owner of the house: Antonio Maxino
Original Location: Unisan, Quezon
Year of construction: 1839
Year of Reconstruction: 2007
Built in 1839, the Maxino house claims the prestige of being
the first bahay na bato to be built in Unisan, Quezon.
Antonio Maxino built the house in 1839. The house is
composed of two main structures of almost equal size.The
sala and quartos are in the larger structure; the comedor,
kitchen, and the azoteo in the smaller structure.The main
staircase terminates in the caida on the second floor which
fuses the two structures. From the caida , one can go either
to the sala or the comedor.The comedor has narrow wood
planks laid with spaces in between. Simple sunburst carvings
are on the two-paneled narra main door that secures the
living and sleeping areas.There are two trap doors on the
floor of the sala. This part of the house has hardwood
planks measuring 1.23 meters by 14.8 meters for the
flooring. The wood planks extend from the sala to the
cuarto. Quite unusual is the very different treatment of the
windows facing the other street. Sliding wood- and-capiz
windows have regular patterns and there is a marked
absence of ventanillas.The quarto aguas red clay roofs are
the architectural highlight of the two structures. The
quarto aguas roofs ingeniously terminate into dos aguas to
provide air vents.
The roofs over the structures beautifully merged; the red
clay caballettes in the ridges and apex of both roofs
enhance the distinctive nineteenth-century roof line. All
around the transom, on the eaves of the tile roof of the
larger structure, is a media agua of corrugated galvanized
iron sheets which could have been added when the house
was renovated in 1957. The roof system, composed of
quilos, or rafters interlocked at the top of the ends,
attached to the palupo or ridge stabilize the roof structure.
Due to heavy roofing materials, king posts were installed to
hold the ridge beams which are turn braced by
supplementary timbers alongside the rafters.
CASA HIDALGO
Name of the house: Casa Hidalgo or Enriquez Mansion
Owner of the house: Rafael Enriquez
Original location: Hidalgo St., Quiapo, Manila
Year of construction: 1867
Year of Reconstruction: 2006
Built in 1867, the mansion, filled with ionic capitals from the
colonnaded sidewalk, to the columns found in the balcony
front, was designed by the first Filipino to practice
architecture in the Philippines during the Spanish era, Felix
Roxas y Arroyo, for the family of Rafael Enriquez. Originally
located at the corner of Calle San Sebastian (now R.
Hidalgo St.) and Callejon de Carcer in Quiapo District,
Manila, the house was considered the most elegant in the
entire country during the Spanish regime, as narrated and
described by American historian A.M. Norton sometime
1908 and 1909. The mansion was then used as the first
campus of the University of the Philippines School of Fine
Arts with Enriquez as its first director from 1909 to 1926,
before his death in 1927. It was also the first school of
Architecture in the Philippines.Young artists in the 1870’s
used to train in the entrezuelo (mezzanine) of the house,
notable among them were JUAN LUNA and FELIX
HIDALGO. Later, outstanding artists who were products
of the school included FERNANDO AMORSOLO,
GUILLERMO TOLENTINO , EMILIO ALVERO, CARLOS
FRANCISCO and TOMAS MAPUA. In 1927, after the
operations of the school was transferred to Padre Faura St.,
the house underwent various repairs and was used for
other purposes such as bowling alley, boys and girls
dormitory, sex live shows and a lot more. As a result of the
poormaintenance of the structure, the house slowly went
into decay
CASA BINAN (ALBERTO HOUSE)
This two storey house, reputed to have been originally
built by Gregorio ALONZO in the 16th Century, is located in
front of Binan Plaza, Laguna. The ownership passed to one
of his sons, Cipriano representative of the Spanish Cortez
and also Jose RIZAL's maternal grandfather. Lorenzo
Alberto ALONZO's daughter was Teodora ALONZO
later known as Teodora Morales Alonzo Realonda y
Quintos (the mother of Jose RIZAL), who eventually
inherited the house and expanded it in the 18th century.
This expansion included a large azotea at the rear of the
property with a garage underneath for caruajes. This
construction was said to have been inspired by the Rizal
Home in Calamba, Laguna. Eventually, the home was sold
to Dona Magdalena MARCO who then passed it on to her
daughter Isabella and her husband, Macario MARCO. They,
in turn passed the home to their daughter Pilar and her
husband Zoilo ALBERTO. The youngest son of Pilar and
Zoilo ALBERTO (Gerardo ALBERTO) is now the current
owner of the house. Folklore regarding this home during
the ALBERTO period of ownership concerns Don Jose
Alberto ALONZO, a Knight of the Order of Isabella the
Catholic and the Order of Carlos III. Don Jose Alberto
ALONZO was also the half-uncle of Jose RIZAL, also a
Knight of the Order of Isabella the Catholic. Don Jose
Alberto ALONZO was described as one of the wealthiest
men in Binan at that time. It is reported that, while away on a
trip, Don Alberto ALONZO's wife, Teodora FORMOSA,
developed a romance with another man. Teodora
FORMOSA's father-in-law, Don LORENZO, learned of the
affair and then locked his daughter-in-law in a room in the
older part of the house. Teodora ALONZO provided food
to the imprisoned Teodora FORMOSA until such time as
Teodora FORMOSA smuggled a letter out to authorities
which accused Teodora ALONZO of poisoning her.
Subsequently, Teodora ALONZO was forced into exile by
walking from Binan to Calamba while Don Lorenzo was
imprisoned.
At the beginning of the 20th century, and prior to the current
ownership, this house was converted into a movie theatre
commonly known as “Cinema Gloria”. Following his
parents death, the current owner leased out the ground
floor to a Bank and utilized the upper floor as office space.
A portion of the property where the old movie house was
located caught fire and was eventually leased to a
supermarket following re-construction. As age began to
deteriorate the building, and with prohibitive maintenance
costs, the owner decided to move the home to another lot
and otherwise utilize the property on which it stood. The
current owner, Gerardo ALBERTO, decided to donate what
was left of this building to Mr. Jerry ACUZAR of Las Casas
Pilipinas de Acuzar in order to preserve and use what
remained of it.
This planned donation is currently being protested by
heritage advocates of Binan through municipal officials
and its current status remains undecided. This heritage
protest has been made notwithstanding that the building
is private property and in the absence of any historical
declaration or markings by any level of government.
Further, the owner is not desirous of any such designation.
Investigation has also cast doubt on claims as to this
building being 435 years old as the manner of construction
and the materials utilized (IE: steel nails) indicate a more
probable construction date near the beginning of the 19th
century. In other words, about 200 – 250 years of age.
The original home remainsin Binan pending resolution of
this dispute. Nevertheless, a model of this original home
was constructed on the property at Las Casas Philippines
de Acuzar with attention to detail and with intent to replicate
this building as exactly as possible to the original building.