THE genteel Parian of Cebu City, one of the several parians in the country, started as a small ghetto of Chinese traders in the 16th century. Located across an estuary on the north side of the Spanish quarters, by the turn of the 20th century it became a district where Cebu’s wealthiest founding families lived. Clustered within this district were a large concentration of the tiled-roof bahay na bato (stone ancestral houses) where lavish cenas and tertulias were once held by the buena sociedad cebuana.
A number of these ancestral houses were within a stone’s throw from the newly opened, three-star, Art Deco-style, 157-room One Central Hotel & Suites where we stayed in. During our free time, I, together with blogger Maria Rona Beltran and lifestyle and travel writer Rhea Tabora, visited three of these Spanish-Colonial era ancestral houses which have been turned into museums.
The historic, two-story Casa Gorordo, built in the 1850s, was originally owned by Alejandro Reynes y Rosales. In 1863 it was bought by Juan Isidro Gorordo, a Spanish merchant. Four generations of the Gorordo family, from 1863 to 1979, have lived in this house, including Bishop Juan Perfecto Gorordo y Garces (1862 to 1934), the first Filipino bishop of Cebu. In 1980 it was acquired by the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (Rafi). Between 1980 and 1981, the house underwent extensive renovation and restoration works and, on December 15, 1983, was officially opened to the public as a museum. On September 24, 1991, Casa Gorordo Museum was designated as a National Historical Landmark by the National Historical Institute.
The house, showcasing mid-19th century and early 20th-century Philippine culture and lifestyle, has a rich artifact collection reflecting the lifestyle of Cebuanos from the late 1800s to the pre-World War II years. It has a courtyard, a terra-cotta tile roof with Chinese upturned eaves, bayong (mahogany) wood sidings, ground floor with coral stone blocks (glued with egg whites), tugas (molave) and narra hardwood flooring, and capiz windows.
The Yap-San Diego Ancestral House, also part of the Casa Gorordo Museum Complex, is said to be the first Chinese house built outside of China.
Often referred to by the locals as the Balay nga Bato ug Kahoy (House of Wood and Stones), this ancestral house was built, sometime between 1675 and 1700, and is considered as one of the oldest existing residential structures in the country, and proof that the Parian district in Cebu City was a bustling barangay where houses were often designed with a second story. This two-story house, its design combining Spanish and Chinese architectural influences, has a ground floor built with coral stone, glued with egg whites; and a second floor built with tugas (molave) and balayong wood. The curving roof was made of tisa (red terra-cotta clay tiles) from China, each piece weighing 1 kilogram.
Across the street from the Yap-San Diego Ancestral House is the Heritage of Cebu Monument, a visually and contextually interesting tableau of concrete, bronze, brass and steel sculptures designed by the late, multiawarded Cebuano sculptor Eduardo Castrillo. It shows scenes of significant and symbolic events in the history of Cebu back from the time of Rajah Humabon to the recent beatification of the Cebuano martyr, Pedro Calungsod. It was built on the site of the Saint John the Baptist Church which was demolished in 1875 by the diocese of Cebu. This work of art stands on a traffic circle, with narrow streets flanking the sides.
The Jesuit House, also called Museo de Parian sa Sugbo, is claimed to be the oldest dated house in the Philippines. Its entrance is through the main gate of Ho Tong Hardware along Zulueta Street.
The Jesuit House is actually two houses connected by a bridge. During our guided tour, museum curator Christian Joseph Bonpua pointed to a low relief plaque, bearing the date “Año 1730,” on the inside wall above the main house’s entrance door, an artifact in itself.
Chinese influence in the house construction can be seen in rafters that feature a design resembling a pagoda, and the intricate carvings on the trusses also show that Chinese artisans may have worked on it. It is believed The Jesuit House is even older than the Yap-San Diego Ancestral House because its second level, like the ground floor, is still made of cut coral stones, indicating it was built before a Spanish decree disallowed this practice. The remarkably preserved house, sitting on around 2,000 square meter of land, served as the residence of the second highest official of the Jesuit society in the Philippines.
1 comment
Thanks for this very informative article about Parian, Cebu. It makes me appreciate the history of Cebu even more. In particular, since I was trained in a Jesuit-run seminary in Ateneo de Manila, the explanation about the background of the old Jesuit House has attracted my interest. In my long years of formation, I heard both Fr Roque Ferriols, SJ and the late Fr Pete Sevilla, SJ mentioning this because they used to study at the old Berchman’s College in Cebu (now within the campus of UP Cebu). The current Jesuit House in Cebu which was under Fr Robert Rice, SJ many years ago is meaningful to me; I stayed there for about a week at one point. This article can also help my friend locate some old stone houses in the Visayas for his doctorate (PhD) in Art History in UP Diliman. Thanks again! Kudos!