Probably the most popular heritage house in Dumaguete City is the house of Silvanas. The Sans Rival Bistro has recently been one the most sought-after places in Dumaguete. It has been a favorite for people who love history and food.
The house was first built in the 1930s and was owned by the Teves family. The house was once owned by Manuel L. Teves and Agueda Longa. They had nine children, one of which is Trinidad Teves.
In the 1970s, Trinidad Teves inherited the house. The house was then remodeled and it was there where their family lived, with her husband Manuel Sagarbarria. In 1987, the Sans Rival Cakes and Pastries was built by Trinidad Teves at the backyard garden of the house. The shop still stands at its very location. In 2004, the daughter Trinidad Sagarbarria-Bustamante inherited the house after the mother passed on.
The pastry shop originally contained only three to four tables and chairs to serve its customers. In 2012, the house was converted into now the Sans Rival Bistro. It extended from the original cake and pastry shop to the house which is now a bar and bistro. The interior of the house was remodeled to accommodate the small restaurant. The original structure, however, is the same. A foyer has been added as an extension of the restaurant.
The second floor of the house served as the house of the daughter Trinidad. But, the family moved out the house since the area along the boulevard became busy. The house did not feel like a residential area anymore, but more of a commercial place.
Until today, the integrity of the facade of the house remains. The house is made of poured cement. The wooden floor of the house is still from the original house. The high ceiling reminds you of vintage structures in the past for proper ventilation. The original wooden staircase offers you the experience of nostalgia of history. Few of the chandeliers and other furniture remain in the house.
In 2015, the second floor of the house was turned into function rooms. It was where the master bedroom and the family’s other bedrooms were located. The function rooms are now named after Agueda Longa and Manuel L. Teves, grandparents of the current owner of the structure.
Heritage houses like that of Sans Rival worked through its way to where it is now, in the process serving its people as it always did.
Filipinos have always been fond of visiting new places especially if something antique and historic is involved. Another popular destination is the heritage houses in Silay City.
Silay City, or what was once called “Paris of Negros,” is known for its ancestral homes. Not only are these homes preserved well, but these homes are livable. Most, in fact, are still occupied by families of the original owners and are not open for public viewing, while a few have been converted to offices, restaurants and museums.
One of Silay’s ancestral houses is Angel Araneta Ledesma Ancestral House, belonging to Angel Araneta Ledesma and his wife Rizalina Javelona Lopez. It is also known as Balay Verde or the Green House because of its color.
The Angel Araneta Ledesma House was built in the 1930s using huge logs available in the lumber yard business of Angel Ledesma in the empty lot facing Plaridel St. behind his wife’s parental home.
Located at the right side beside the City Hall, Police Station, and Fire Department, it is also a short walk to the town plaza, Silay North Elementary School, San Diego Church, the Puericulture Center, and the commercial areas of the town.
It is a two-storey house combining the colonial plantation architecture and the American clapboard style that was popular in the revivalist era of the American period.
According to a blog written by Maritel Ledesma, Angel Ledesma’s granddaughter, the inside of the house was not beautiful compared to other houses in Silay, but it was big and had lots of places to hide in. She narrated her experience about how they used to play hide and seek and the times when they would scare their household help by hiding in the big closets, powdering their faces and covering their heads with white blankets, while putting a flashlight under their faces.
The house had a bahay kubo at the front lawn and also surrounded by star apple trees, which gave hundreds of fruits every year. There is also a lone mango tree in the front yard, producing only one fruit a year, and santol trees producing a number of fruits.
The family decided to sell the house in 1992. They decided to close it and hired a family to guard and clean the house, allowing them to live in the servant’s extension at the back. Until such time that one individual took interest of the house, the 750-square meter lot was sold at P375,000. The new owner, having a very good business sense, sold it to the city government of Silay at P1 million after a few years of having it rented out to foundations and families.
Today, the heritage house is now the Office of Culture, Arts and Tourism of the City of Silay. | NWI
