Iloilo is known for its Dinagyang Festival, La Paz Batchoy, colonial churches and old houses. And when we speak of this city’s old houses, they are are not just your typical ancestral houses or bahay na bato for this city is home to many mansions built by sugar barons way back in pre-war era. Some are still standing with some old people or caretakers residing while some are now used as schools.

If you are traveling or visiting the City of Love, bring your camera and wear your most comfortable shoes and discover these old houses and mansions in Iloilo. There are many of them in the city and what I have here are just a few of them. I am featuring those famous old houses and mansions but it is easy to spot many old abodes as you explore Iloilo.

Where to find them

If you don’t know where to start, just go to the main plazas in the city – Jaro, Molo and Libertad. In accordance to the Spanish status quo, those living close to the plaza are the most affluent ones. So aside from taking shots or visiting old churches, you can also check out these ancestral and heritage houses of Iloilo.

Those located around Jaro Plaza are the grandest and there are plenty of them. Still, you can see many old houses in Molo and even Arevalo.  For this post, majority of these houses are located around the district of Jaro.

The Ledesma Mansion or "Eagle House"

This old house is located in Ortiz Street close to Plaza Libertad. If you are heading to Jordan, Guimaras Island, this should be your landmark to the wharf where you will be taking a boat ride to the island.

Old House close to the Hall of Justice

I don’t know who owns this house or what it is called but this house catches your attention as you pass by the center of the city. This well-preserved old house is located close to many government offices like the Provincial Capitol, Tourism Office, Atrium Mall, Hall of Justice and beside Castle Hotel.

Sanson-Montinola House or the "Antillan House"

Located in Graciano Lopez-Jeana St., Jaro beside Collegio de San Jose. It was in this house that the Araneta clan gathered during their family reunion years ago. The Antillan House was built by Don Emong Montinola.

The famous Nelly's Garden

I consider this as the queen of all old houses in Iloilo. Named after the daughter of its original owners ( Don Vicente Lopez y Villanueva and Donya Elena Hofilena y Javelona) in 1928.  The structure is patterned after Tara, the estate house of the novel, ” Gone With the Wind”.

Montinola House

I’m not sure of it’s name, kindly correct me. This house is located close to Jaro Plaza beside a pet shop store.

The Grand Ledesma Mansion ( Jaro)

Owned by Rosario Lopez Javelona and Don Luis Ledesma. I love this house but it was hard to find a perfect angle since in its front gate is a bibingka stand and there are some flyers of a review center hanging on its terraces.  This mansion is located across Jaro Plaza.

Lopez-Vito House

Located right across Jaro PLaza, beside the Ledesma Mansion. Its windows are opened during the annual Jaro fiesta.

Locsin House ( beside Jaro Cathedral)

The Locsin House faces the exit of the Jaro Cathedral and right next to the Vito-Lopez House. I don’t have any information about this house. I would appreciate it if someone can enlighten me..:-)

Casa Mariquit

The house built for Maria Javellana-Lopez or Mariquit, wife of former vice-president Fernando Lopez Sr. This house also served as a bank during its time.

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Located in Benedicto St. in Jaro beside Tibiao Bakery approaching Tabuc Suba Bridge. The antique store, “Tienda Antigua” is no longer housed inside but I still prefer to call it as the “Tienda Antigua” House.

When I decided to study in Iloilo, my dad asked me to look for Villa Lizares. When he was a yong boy in Negros, he heard stories about the haunted mansion of the Lizares in Iloilo. But this mansion is not just famous for its horror stories but for its design and architecture. Built in 1937  by Don Emiliano Lizares, this mansion is the perfect competition of Nelly’s Garden. Located in Tabuc Suba, this is now a school, Angelicum School of  Iloilo. During Christmas season, Villa Lizares holds a festival of lights. Click here for the article.

Living in the city with one of the highest power cost in the country means lesser lights during the Christmas season. And true to their situation, driving along Iloilo during the season is less festive in terms of Christmas lights compared to other neighboring cities and even towns.

To feel the spirit of Christmas with wonderful display of Christmas lights, people flock to the Angelicum School of Iloilo in Tabuc Suba, Jaro. Here, the mansion of the Lizares family is adorned with thousands of lights with Filipino Christmas songs played along providing that Christmas feeling.

Visitors can come from 6pm till midnight with no entrace fee collected. There is a small donation box which is obviously left “unseen” by visitors. The large lawn in front of the mansion serves as a nice spot for people to sit down and watch the lights while little kids can freely run around.

I can’t count the number of times that I have been to Roxas City, the only and capital city of Capiz in the island of Panay.  This city is known for two things; the hometown of the affluent Roxas family and for seafoods.

Nonetheless, it was only recently that I explored Roxas and the rest of Capiz for its heritage touch like the famous Pan-ay Church. And as an old and ancestral home fanatic, I tried to find any ancestral houses in Roxas and I stumbled upon what else but the Acuña-Roxas Ancestral House better known as the birthplace of President Manuel Roxas.

I was a little bit ashame that I missed this house or just the fact, that I didn’t know that it exists. I crossed waters to visit ancestral houses in Silay and I was completely ignorant about the ancestral house of Manuel Roxas.

The Acuña-Roxas Ancestral House is located in Cor. Rizal-Zamora Sts., and just a short walk from the plaza and capitol. The house is not as extraordinary as other old house but this house heard the first cry of a Philippine president and the scion of the Roxas clan.

It is a typical “bahay na bato”, a two-story structure with the ground floor made of stone while the upper part is made of wood.  Just like any other Bahay na Bato, the gourd floor is like the storage room and garage in the olden days while the upper part is where the living quarters, kitchen and living room is located.

Sadly, I haven’ entered the house coz it was close when I last visited the place. I’m not expecting too much from any memorabilia that the house might have but what is important is the real significance of this abode that nurtured a young child into one of the leaders of the country.

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Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson’s Mansion

Bernardino Jalandoni Museum

Sin in New Washington

Statue of Cardinal Sin fronting the Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish Church

He was one of the instruments that tumbled down two presidencies in Philippine politics and one of the key players of both EDSA I and II that made two women as the most powerful person in the Philippines. Cardinal Jaime Cardinal Sin with that iconic smile is the most controversial clergy in the Philippines. He was even one of the most promising candidate for the papacy if only he lived through it; he could have been the first Filipino and Asian pope.

In a small and quite port municipality of New Washington in Aklan, Cardinal Sin was born and raised. It is quite surprising that the strong clergyman traces his roots in a very quite town, which is only 15-20 minutes away from the capital of Aklan, Kalibo. A very quite town with simple people; when you come to this place, it is a perfect retirement place and no wonder you can pass by quite big houses from balikbayans and seamen.

House of Sin

In front of the town plaza is the ancestral house of Cardinal Sin’s family and just a few steps away from the small port of New Washington.  If you follow the status quo of Philippine society in which the rich and wealth family lives close to the plaza ( along with the parish church and the town hall); Cardinal Sin is indeed part of a wealthy families in Aklan.

Only a caretaker lives in the house and it’s not formally opened to the public. You might get lucky to enter the house upon the caretaker’s permission and since it is not a heritage home or a tourist attraction, do not expect to see memorabilia displayed in an organized manner. Instead, just take the expereince of being able to step into the abode that nurtured the country’s most unforgettable clergyman and a testimony that the church and state in the Philippines is still one.

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When we speak of  ancestral homes in the Philippines, we always think of Vigan in Ilocos which is no doubt a place that will bring you back to the Spanish times. But with my own ignorance, I overlooked a neighboring city where I lived that is also famous and known for its ancestral homes – Silay City.

Every blog and article will always mention that this city lying very close to Bacolod City in Negros Occidental is the “Paris of Negros”. With more than 31 delcared heritage homes, this is an Eden for those who are interested of our local heritage.  With this, Silay has more declared ancestral heritage homes throughout the country. Of the 31 heritage homes, only you can visit at least two which are open to the public like the Balay Negrense and the Berdardino Jalandoni Museum.Even there local Tourism Office is literally housed in an ancestral home, fondly referred as the “Green House”.

We tried to see all 31 of them and we wish we had a “map” of all the ancestral homes. It is very easy to locate them, since it follows the traditional status quo during the Spanish times these homes are located very close to the town square or plaza and parish church.

Ancestral homes are not new to me and living in Iloilo City specifically in Jaro district where old houses thrived with modern buildings, I was still very much in awe with the ancestral houses in Silay City. Its main “feature” is that they are located close to each other making this city a great venue for walking tours. Until now, I’m longing to go back to Silay with its laidback, carefree and still has the elegant touch of living their everyday life.

Photos by: Ace Francisco

A “must-see attraction” in Talisay City, very close to Bacolod City in Negros Occidental is “The Ruins”. As what it’s name says, it a “ruin” of mansion of a sugar baron way back in the early 19th century, Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson.

This extravagant abode is lavishly decorated with intricate designs, from shell-inspired edges to their names’ initials,  Spanish tiles and a four-tiered water lily fountain. From a simple or even scary old remnant of a mansion to a popular attraction, people who are behind is “comeback” deserves a warm of applause.

A-grade mixture of concrete made this structure triumphed over time

When we first laid our eyes on her amidst the tall sugarcanes and under the heat of the sun..it was simply striking, like looking at a femme de monde. It stands so proud and elegant, never worn out and when we arrived after walking for more than 2.4 kilometers ( whew!), the mansion is really a marvelous sight.

We paid for 40 pesos for the entrance fee and you can freely walk on its well-manicured lawn, take some awesome shots and just reminisce how lavishly these elite people used to live. They have a semi haute cuisine restaurant serving pasta and some recipes of the Lacson family with impressive live jazz music.

I have told my companion that I dont agree with its name “The Ruins” and I have said it many times. The old mansion is more than just “the ruins” for me. I would just prefer to call it “the old mansion” for though it has its ill-fated story;burned for days by the local guerilla fighters during the Second World War, you cannot deny how grand and luxurious this home is.

Photos by: Ace Francisco