The Balay Negrense (Hiligaynon for Negrense House), also known as Victor Fernandez Gaston Ancestral House, is a museum in Silay City, Negros Occidental in the Philippines, showcasing the lifestyle of a late 19th-century Negrense sugar baron. It is notable for being the first museum to be established in the province of Negros Occidental.
History
The Balay Negrense was originally the ancestral house of Victor F. Gaston, a son of Yves Leopold Germain Gaston and Prudencia Fernandez. The elder Gaston is credited as one of the pioneers of
sugarcane cultivation in this portion of the Philippine archipelago. A native of
Normandy in
France, he married a
Filipina from
Batangas where he initially began experimenting with sugar production before relocating to Negros.
Built around 1900,[ http://balaynegrense.com/Gaston%20Family.html ]the house was constructed when Victor Gaston's wife died and during the time when he was residing in his father'
Architecture
The house is of the type called Bahay na bato, literally "house of stone", however, reflecting American colonial influences, the lower
storey is not constructed of stone but of
concrete. The foundation posts are made out of trunks of the
balayong tree, a local
hardwood; the floorboards are of the same material. The house's upper storey is constructed of wood topped with a roof of galvanized iron instead of tile (reflecting the late-19th century trend started in
Intramuros owing to a rule discouraging the use of tiles in favor of then-novel
hiero as roofing material in the aftermath of the 1880 Luzon earthquakes).
The house has a four-metre high ceiling and large windows with
ventanillas, smaller windows beneath the large windows with sliding panels that can be opened to admit the wind. The lower storey itself is elevated from ground level by a metre-high crawlspace, allowing the wooden foundations to be aired, preventing dampness from rotting the wood.
See also
-
Yves Leopold Germain Gaston
-
Mariano Ramos Ancestral House
-
The Ruins (mansion)
-
Hacienda Rosalia
-
Silliman Hall
-
Dizon-Ramos Museum
-
Museo Negrense de La Salle
External links
