TRAVEL | Coming soon at Sitio de Amor Farm Resort

sitio de amor 01
A new house rises from Sitio de Amor's sprawling grounds.

In a recent post I described how the owners of Sitio de Amor Farm Resort in San Pablo City, Laguna seemed to have recently developed a knack for buying old houses. Much like the case with Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar in Bagac, Bataan but in a far smaller scale, these houses are meticulously dismantled, transported, and then painstakingly reassembled on a new location.

After what they called the "ParaƱaque House" (which is still in progress), Sitio's owners have taken to building a much bigger house this time. Let's just call it the "Quezon House" because they got it from somewhere in Quezon province from former PCSO chair Manoling Morato (if I'm not mistaken) of the prominent Quezon clan.

It's a big two-storey house that boasts of a spacious balcony and several rooms. The roof has a complicated design that features a couple of spires. I was curious what they were for and George Bondad (half of the couple who owns Sitio) told me it was a hallmark of a family's social status at the time. Construction is in full swing, which they target to complete by December this year.

Bondad was more than gracious to show us around the house and gave us an informed tour. Here's the tour in photos:

sitio de amor 02
The house's ground floor, which the Bondads are filling up with a variety of hardwood dining sets.

sitio de amor 03
More hardwood.

sitio de amor 04
That's going up the ceiling.

sitio de amor 05
The balcony in the works. The balusters were all from the original house. Must be such work to remove them one by one without breaking them.

sitio de amor 06
That's one huge slab of wood, isn't it?

sitio de amor 07
Pieces are all numbered, including each wood plank from the floor. Bondad also had tiles manufactured according to the house's original design.

sitio de amor 08
The door from the balcony leading up to the rooms.

sitio de amor 09
Quite a spacious hallway and living room area.

sitio de amor 10
Let's see these old furniture given new life soon.

sitio de amor 11
All this wood is simply to be admired.

sitio de amor 12
Ventanilla and planters. It's amazing that none of the iron pieces are welded at all.

sitio de amor 13
Some handsome classic furniture. I didn't know what the leftmost one was before. I was later educated it's where pillows are stacked.

sitio de amor 14
Catholic and tropical influences at play.

sitio de amor 15
Why don't they make consoles like this anymore?

sitio de amor 16
This room was supposedly where former president and fashionable man Manuel L. Quezon slept whenever we was in town.

sitio de amor 17
A water tank whose history took a dark turn during the Japanese occupation where people were allegedly imprisoned. I don't know how true this is, though.

sitio de amor 18
With George Bondad, owner of Sitio. Notice all the beautiful stained glass in the background.

The house will form part of Sitio's bed and breakfast but I was told that for cost efficiency reasons, it will be rented out as an entire house instead of per room. Nevertheless I can't wait to see it once it's finished.

Also check out my full review of Sitio de Amor for more about this bed and breakfast.

Comments

  1. i am glad that there are people who are trying to save these great ancestral houses. it saddens me to see them get neglected.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FRAGRANCE | Green Cedar EDT by Bench: An environmentally-conscious offering from the Philippines' premier retail brand

Man of style: Steven Tyler