Iloilo Ancestral Houses: The Sanson y Montinola Antillan House in Jaro

One of the most attractive yet very elusive ancestral houses in Iloilo is the Sanson y Montinola Mansion also known as the Antillan House.

Located in the so-called Millionaire's Row in the district of Jaro beside Colegio de San Jose, this mansion patterned after the homes in the Antilles in the Caribbean is a sight to behold inside out.

The family used to own vast tracts of land surrounding the mansion - the land where Colegio de San Jose is a donation, the land at the back where SM Hypermarket stands (and further than that) and up front it extends up to SM City Iloilo.

If one could only imagine, the mansion was like an "island in the middle of the sea of greeneries".  

It was through Iloilo's heritage advocates that the elusiveness of this ancestral house, from me, has finally stopped.



I was privileged to have accessed the house together with fellow blogger and photographer Estan Cabigas of Langyaw blog. As the skies darken, we managed to capture beauty of the house that stood despite the sinister looking backdrop of dark and heavy rain clouds.

We were safely inside the house when the rain drops started to fall and thus we begin our (virtual) tour. The first level houses the receiving area with closed rooms we left untouched.

The hallway leads to a large garage with walls and windows that reminds me of churches - thick windows, large rectangular grilled windows and some circular windows. It served as both a bodega (there was even a large tabungos) and garage for the kalesa back then and later to some vintage cars.  

It was probably the main entrance as the grand staircase faces that direction rather than the entrance we went in. (Its on the back of the wall with a mirror on the upper photo).

And the grandeur continued with each step we took. The stairs had elaborately carved hardwood "handles", ornate ceiling arch dividers - those three lovely arches (I dont know the right term) that separate the hallway to the veranda-like living room which is the most prominent part of the house seen from the outside.

Hardwood floor stretch all the way and around up to the living room. I noticed that each room/segment of te house has a pattern for the wooden floor - a long and continuous X-shaped middle wood then the speaces in the X's are horizontally lined from the center. It maybe more than design for it could have made the structure a lot stronger.

What I refer to as the sala has almost an al fresco feel if all the windows are opened and even more if the ventanillas are too. Opening on three sides to the outside, this part of the house seems to be the showcase of the mansion inside out.

From below looking up, the windows and ventanillas seem to be like doors welcoming everybody to the house.

Checking out one of the rooms, we found this ornate bed on display and beautifully preserved as well as the cabinets too.

Looking out of the window, we see the "facade" highlights of the room we were just in a few minutes ago...

And look, an open ventanilla letting the breeze in!

Outside the hallway with the chandelier in its brightest seem to magnet us from the room. And then ...

... I found what became my favorite room of the house - the dining room! Well, it looks and located like one as it connects the main house to another structure which is presumably the kitchen of generations past.

But the stained glass windows were the actual captors of my attention - shining, shimmering, splendid! And they created a special and magical effect of the room on three sides. Beautiful during the day, what more can it be at night especially if some lights from the outside illuminate it.

Yet something caught my attention even more - the tiled floor. Made with Machuca tiles, it radiates its own aura that compliments the room with its classiness. Looking down creates a trance-like feel as the floors stretches across the room.

Machuca tiled floor

The room has balconies on three sides which makes the area double in size when utilized. It was almost a "one last look" moment when the spiral staircase beckoned us near it.

Spiraling up to the third level, the iron staircase takes the corner spot which blends in the design of the room, yet having its own distinct presence.  

Going up, I captured its beauty with some acrobatic moves standing on the ledges to get a bird's eye-view.

The third floor looked like an office of yesteryears with the staircase bringing you up to a little lobby. There another flight of stairs would bring you to the topmost floor ...

... which is a Machuca tiled rooftop balcony having a 360 degree view of the vicinity. This was where the owners before would check on their workers using telescopes. Imagine this to be the man-made tallest structure on a sea of green field...

The rooftop was a sight to behold - architecture-wise, its antiquity and the view which only a few have seen then and now. This part of the house seems to be invisible from the front where most people can see. As the rain signified its presence once more and I was back again spiraling down the stairs, this time looking at it more closely.

It also gave me a chance for another shot of almost the whole second level - the dining room, the common room of the main stairs and the sala up front.

I also went out the balcony which had this hynoptic "dividers" that reminded me of some Indian designs of sorts. I could just imagine the parties held here at the turn and middle of the 20th century during its heydays.

This is how this side looked like from below - the second floor balcony with its dividers, the third floor which looks better from the outside and the rooftop balcony.

I then began my "one last look" moment, saying goodbyes to the stained glass windows, Machuca-tiled floors, spiral staircase, chandelier ...

...also the door and steps which welcomed us, also said their goodbyes.

For the Sanson y Montinola Antillan House, it may have been just another rainy afternoon. But for me, it was a day of huge discovery, of heritage appreciation and a great sense of fulfillment having trodden this once elusive ancestral house in Jaro, Iloilo City.

More photos on Iloilo Travel Guide Facebook Page

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Note: This ancestral house is NOT OPEN to the public.