Baldevia Pensione in Burgos, ancestral house turned Pensione
Dubbed as the “Paris of Negros“, the Town of Silay is next to out rivals Vigan in terms of a number of well preserved Ancestral Houses. It is interesting to see how the former moniker fares and also the presence of ancestral houses that we decided to stay at one of the 31 heritage houses there, the Baldevia Pensione House.
Baldevia Pensione Reception
It was easy to spot this building since it was on the main street of Rizal corner Burgos. The facade looks really interesting having qualities of an authentic ancestral house. Even the reception has the archaic feel, from the tainted ceiling paints, fading wooden paints, wallpaper styles and staircase rails. But it’s a different story once you get to the accommodation hallway. It’s been renovated and looks modern. A bit disappointing since I was expecting to sleep on an old wooden room furnished with antiquities. I guess tourism and development caught up on this little house.
Maria Ledesma Golez House
We were supposed to take some rounds of the ancestral houses at night time but was spoiled by heavy rains that evening that we just decided to just eat out and stroll by town under the rain. I like Silay a lot more the Bacolod City. It’s a lot cleaner and layout much organized. We finally got our much coveted ice cream dessert here and stayed around the play ground until the curfew siren for minors sounded around 10 in the evening.
Maria Ledesma Golez House Details
Early morning, in the last day in Silay, Oggie wasn’t feeling so well since he was ailing from a bout of food poisoning. Probably from an unclean tap water he drank the night before. Erick and I couldn’t leave him to his lonesome though so we stayed around. Still feeling a bit feeble, he managed to go out by mid day for lunch and to drop by EL Ideal bakery. By afternoon we checked out to head for the airport. Melba of Baldevia provided us an AUV for a more comfortable transport to the airport.
Balay Negrense, the restored residence of Victor F. Gaston
We weren’t able to pay a visit to some of the ancestral houses aside from the one in front of the pensione which is the Maria Ledesma Golez House now occupied the local branch of RCBC. It’s a beautiful two story building with distinguishable Art Deco elements from the arches and elegant details of masques and caryatid and lion heads decorate the house facade. With our driver finding this out, he insisted he drive us to the nearby Balay Negrense since we have time. It’s one of the more popular ancestral houses there.
Balay Negrense, grand staircase
Balay Negrense is an elegant stone house built in 1897 and owned by Victor F. Gaston. We didn’t enter the house since we only have a short time but I’m equally impressed by the details of the house. From the grand staircases on the sides of the house, intricately carved wooden facade on the second floor, and also the functional ventanillas. It would be interesting to go inside the house which has been turned into a museum but we have to go for our flight back in Manila.
It was an interesting glimpse of Silay, more reason to go back to in the future.
Essentials: Baldevia Pension House, San Sebastian Cor. Rizal Sts., Silay, (034) 4950272
nice details of the facade and the reception, wulfriend.
wasn’t able to take much because of my bout with food poisoning.
laking pasasalamat ko sa inyo ni erick for not leaving me.
di bale, bawi ako next time.
Fredz, I love your photos… esp. the Bahay Negrese. I love old houses. But I don’t travel much because of the business. It’s nice to be able to “travel” thru your blog. Really great stuff!!!!
Mern kaya mumu yun mga house?
i think Silay has more old houses declared by NHI as heritage houses than Vigan
galing! yung maria golez house nadaan ko nung pinuntahan namin ang balaring. kakatuwa na makita ang mga lugar na ito sa camera mo. dami pang ibang old house sa silay kaya lang hindi na rin ako nakadaan sa silay.
nice naman tignan ang heritage houses na ito..pero doesnt it feel creepy inside? hehehe! so much of watching “bahay ni lola”. hehe!
wow, ang gaganda talaga ng mga lumang bahay diyan ah, well preserved! naalala ko bigla yung el hogar sa binondo, siguro maganda ring gawin pension house yun or apartment kung i-renovate.
Hey Oggie, with that happening, we learned to take precautions with our drinking waters. hehe.
Hi Rushel! They say that house is haunted, since we wasn’t able to go inside,didn’t feel any strange presence there.
Thanks for noting that one Eric, made some changes to it.
Yeah Dom, there’s this street in line with all of them. Would have been interesting to see kaso we were also short on time.
Hahaha. It’s hard not to associate ghost with old houses Ninyakin. Hehe. Although I must admit, I like how those old houses look. With unseen presence or not.
I haven’t seen el hogar sa Binondo yet Carlotta, will try to check it out when I drop by the area.
i have heard so much about silay and your pics just proved how fascinating the place is. great job again ferdz.
Hindi ko alam na madaming old houses sa bacolod… thanks for sharing this…
i am a fan of ancestral houses. they tell a lot of stories. the structure and the materials used say a lot about how they stood the test of time. i’ve lived in an ancestral house in LB maybe that’s why i feel so at home just seeing them. Bacolod is one of my favorite cities in the Visayas and it’s nice to know that even though it’s already highly-urbanized, most of its old structures are well maintained.
This is a nice trip. One I would really really enjoy. I am so glad that they have restored so many of the old houses. I wanna see all of this in my lifetime.
Great pics. They really did a good job in preserving these historical houses
I wish other towns and cities follow the example. I have passed by Silay hundreds of time when I was a kid. Kind of nostalgic for me to see a glimpse of the place once again.
The name Baldevia reminds me of Belvedere ( vodka ). Anyway, I love the first photo. Very picturesque. I guess ancestral houses are really awesome b/c of the architecture and vast histories behind them.
;]
ang ganda ng lumang bahay ano?
worthful talaga….
thanks for sharing….
ay oo nga malapit lang kami sa bacolod….
dumaguete sa amin…….
beautiful…
hope i can see this soon!
This is such a lovely and romantic place. I love the facade, ul feel like you’re somewhere in europe. the people are nice, warm and very friendly. The place is very clean and to mention no air pollution. You’ll learn how to appreciate life when you get to this place. This is just a 5 minute travel from the airport. Take note the foods are also great. Try the batchoy and inasal,, yum yum, the best talaga!
i really love bacolod na… hope i can go back there.:)
[...] the Post – Collection of photos of Silay Ancestral Homes, from Silay City’s Facebook Page. Bacolod, a Glimpse of Silay’s Ancestral Houses – Beautiful photos of lesser known Silay Ancestral Homes. . Manuel Hofilena’s [...]
diri mn kmi ga reunion…….i miss this place!!!!!!!
how can i get to those houses? i want to visit bacolod and those are one of my itineraries…
It’s just on the main road crossing of Silay, you won’t miss it