An ancestral house is a link to the past and this is no different in Talisay City, Cebu. This is where our most famous families originate from, where many of the most important events of their and our lives take place. The past doesn’t have to be unreachable sometimes we can see what the past has become today in heritage structures and events which shape the country we live in. Now our focus should be pointed to the structures being lost and that have already been lost to time, let me clarify this, Preventable destruction and Unpreventable destruction are two very different things. Preventable destruction of heritage properties are attributed to events like road widening, sale of the property or willful destruction of the structure to make a new one or empty a lot. On the other hand Unpreventable destruction is attributed to natural causes like typhoons, earthquakes, volcanoes and other natural phenomena. The worst kind of destruction is Preventable because there was another option. Today we cover one of the ancestral houses of Talisay that was not lost to time, but lost to corporations and the road.
This is the Restauro Ancestral house that was built in 1935, it was located in Linao Talisay and is now occupied by a Nissan Dealership.Linao was one of the main thoroughfares going to the south, after reaching Tabunok the marketplace of Talisay, Linao was where you would stock up on rarer materials that you could not find in other places of Talisay like glass and Hardwood. The house was owned by the Restauro family who were prominent in this area of Talisay in the 1930s-1950s this can be seen in the size and grandeur of their house. The house was heavily inspired by Filipino-American architecture which can be seen in its design and the smaller details in the house, the glass windows are also a indication of wealth. The house contained the first iron safe in Talisay where the family would keep its valuables. The house was made of Lawaan and Narra woods with a concrete first floor. The roof was made of galvanized iron and on the roof there was a small ventilation shaft which can be seen to the left of the picture above. The house shares similarities to the recently demolished Tenchavez house in Tabunok meaning they could be built around the same time.
The house before its demolition contained old furniture and as mentioned the first Iron Safe in Talisay, fortunately the family took care of the house and transferred everything inside to their new house in another area, The iron grills were also saved from the demolition, many art pieces and traditional arts were saved and brought to the families ne house. The house started its demolition around 2017 to make way for the new Nissan Dealership and the Foton Dealership. The place where the house stands now is a parking lot for the dealerships.
The house was demolished in 2 months and is now the parking lot of the dealerships. This is also lesson on what money can do, as one of my close friends said “when money moves its over” corporations are large entities with money to do what they want including destroying heritage structures. I only wish that the family legacy live on through what was left.
