I love looking at the old houses in my hometown of San Antonio, Nueva Ecija. I hope to uncover the story of each of these houses and preserve them.
During my recent visit to my hometown of San Antonio, Nueva Ecija, I saw one of the old houses in our town being torn down. It was an antique house that I was able to visit when I was a child because our neighbor would always take me with her when she went there. Anyway, I was a little sad seeing this beautiful old house being torn down because I felt that a memory of our town had been erased. If only our town could preserve that house in some other way, it would have been a good consolation. Just the same, it was a private property hence, it was the owners’ prerogative on what they wanted to do with it.
 |
| House owned by the De Belen Family (now demolished) |
My fascination with the old houses of San Antonio
I’ve always been fascinated by the old houses in Poblacion, San Antonio, Nueva Ecija. When I was little, we used to rent a house along the busy Gallego Street of our town. It was just a walking distance from my school and each morning, while my father and I made our way to school, I would always look at the big old houses along the way. I am not sure if they were Spanish-era houses, because it was just based on stories from our lady neighbor, but they were definitely antique houses.
 |
| House owned by the Gallego-Lamson Family |
Every afternoon after school, I would go to the nearby computer games shop, which is located inside one of the old houses that I used to marvel at. It was located at the corner of Lamson Street and Gallego Street. The house was mostly made of wood, Capiz shell windows, a stone foundation and staircase, and some metal fittings (if my memory serves me right). At some point, we were able to go inside this house to visit a wake, and our neighbor told us that it was built during the Spanish era. The house survived the Japanese occupation, and she even pointed a bullet hole in the wooden floor.
 |
| An old house used to be located in this property, but it burned down a few years ago |
Right across this house, from Gallego Street, is another old house with an old drugstore located in the bottom floor. And across it from Lamson Street is another grand old house which used to be the residence of a former principal of one of the oldest secondary schools in our town. Diagonal from this house, located beside the old posong tumutulo, is the old house of the Gallego-Lamson Family.
 |
| An old house once stood here and it was where I used to watch computer games |
Today, of the four old houses occupying the busy corners of Gallego Street, only the Gallego-Lamson Family house survives and is maintained well.
Preserving the old houses of San Antonio
It’s my dream to preserve the old houses of San Antonio because of their historical value. These houses also hold the potential to be tourist attractions to draw in historical buffs and lovers of antique houses.
 |
| The old house of the Jose Family, former owners of the E. Jose bus line |
It’s not an easy task but we can probably begin with unearthing the history and unique story of each of the houses in San Antonio. On the other hand, I understand that these are privately-owned and, again, it’s up to the owners to decide on what to do with their houses. As such, I came up with this idea to preserve the old houses of San Antonio digitally, through this article and via the Facebook page
Tara Sa San Antonio, Nueva Ecija.
 |
| Row of old houses along Cando Street |
I used these screenshots recorded from Google maps, just because the video shots that I took became pixelated when I took snapshots of them. Furthermore, it can be tedious to ask permission from each owner to take pictures of their house, or maybe share old photos that they have.
 |
| Old house along Cando Street |
In any case, if you are an owner of one of the houses featured below and you want it excluded from this article, please feel free to reach out to me and I will delete the photo. On another note, if you want to have your house featured in this post, feel free to submit a photo via the
Tara Sa San Antonio, Nueva Ecija Facebook page.
Here are more photos of antique houses of San Antonio, Nueva Ecija from Poblacion:
 |
| An antique house along Reyes Street, owned by the family of Bishop Vicente P. Reyes |
 |
| Another antique house along Reyes Street |
 |
| One of the most beautiful old houses along Gallego Street |
 |
| A quiant old house that I always notice along Gallego Street |
 |
| This was the residence of my former high school teacher along Lamson Street (she passed away a few years ago) |
 |
| A charming old house along Herrera Street |
 |
| A house along Herrera Street (notice the cozy & spacious yard) |
 |
| The old Cine San Antonio |
 |
| A beautiful house made mostly of wood along Herrera Street |
 |
| A row of captivating old houses along Herrera Street |
 |
| Old houses near the San Antonio Public Market |
 |
| House owned by the Go Family |
 |
| House owned by the Gan Family |
 |
| The former location of Ever Bakery |
 |
| An old house in Barangay Sta. Cruz (Parang) |
 |
| More antique houses in Barangay Sta. Cruz (Parang) |
 |
| House owned by the Llena Family along Viesca Street |
Again, I hope our town can exert some effort to preserve these houses. Via digital museum or archive, perhaps? Especially since there are owners who would opt to convert their property into a commercial complex because paying property tax can be an expensive task.
*****
Similar stories:
Post a Comment