Here’s a quick trip. From Bacolod City, just ride a jeepney going to Bata, fare is only Php8.00. Just tell the driver to drop you off at Rose Lawns (cemetery). From there just ride a tricycle, fare is only Php10.00. If you are in groups and don’t want to spend more, try walking the 2.4-kilometer distance. You’ll walk through a subdivision and at the end of it is a sugar cane farm. If you see an old tower with a tree on top of it, this means you’re now very close to The Ruins.

As you enter the place, you will be welcomed by one of the receptionists. You will have to pay an entrance fee of Php25.00/head. These guys are cool; they know how to take your pictures. They are friendly as well.

Here’s a quick tour:

THE BELVEDERE – The room above is called a belvedere. It is facing west and affords the family with a beautiful view of the sunset and the coastal waters of Talisay in a glassed-in sunroom with bay windows.

THE FLOOR TILES - The tiles in the mansion are all original. Arrays of varied designs of tiles used throughout the mansion have been grouped together at the foyer of the back entrance near the kitchen. It is believed that the excess tiles were used in this area which was masterfully and creatively laid out.

THE WOODEN FLOORS - The flooring used in the mansion were long-span 2-inch thick hard wood running from the main entrance facing the fountain all the way to the end of the dining room, with no joints. They were about a meter wide and very approximately 20.5 meters long. They initially poured 3 drums of gasoline to ignite the floors of the mansion but nothing happened. Upon returning, they mixed 2 drums of gasoline with 4 drums of used oil and poured the mixture unto the floors of the mansion. The whole mansion was burning for 3 days which consumed all of the floors, ceiling and roof.

THE RAIN GUTTER AND DOWN SPOUTS – The rain gutters at the top of the mansion are made of concrete and formed like canals. Rain water runs to the back portion of the mansion where 2 large down spouts leads the water to a steel pipe to the ground where all the water is collected and used for washing their clothes.

THE NAME ABOVE ALL NAMES – Balay Daco, Simento nga Balay, Mansyon, Palasyo, Lacson Mansion, Balay ni Anoy. These are just but few of the names used to refer to the mansion of Don Mariano “Anoy” Ledesma Lacson. However, the one name that best describes the structure is the term which was coined by locals who have, once upon a time, frequented the place…. THE RUINS.

THE STRUCTURE – The structure of the mansion of the sugar baron, Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson (1865-1948) is of Italianate architecture with neo-Romanesque columns. In New England, they often were homes to ship’s captains with shell-like crowns around the top of the mansion. It is believed that the father of Maria Braga, who was a captain of his own ship, had much influence in the design and architecture of the mansion. It was built after the death of Maria Braga (+1911) and became the residence of their unmarried children. It was the largest residential structure ever built at that time. The structure met its sad fate in the early part of World War II when the USAFE (United States Armed Forces in the Far East), then guerilla fighters, burnt the mansion to prevent the Japanese forces from utilizing it as their headquarters or garrison. Despite the inferno that it underwent, bringing down the roof and the solid wooden floors, the structure has withstood the ravages of time mainly due to the over sized steel bars and the A-grade mixture of concrete used in its construction.

THE VERANDA LIGHTING – Notice that there are no wires exposed leading to the veranda ceiling lights. This is so because the original pipes used to channel the electric wires imbedded in the ceiling, are the same ones used today. Note the rings beside the ceiling lights which used to hold the chains of the chandeliers.

A-GRADE CONCRETE – Felipe, one of the sons supervised the construction of the mansion making certain that the A-grade mixture of concrete and its pouring was precisely followed. When you run your hands to the posts and walls and fell the marble-like effect of high grade concrete. Before the pouring began, Felipe gathered as much as people as he can to ensure that the pouring must be done non-stop, day and night, until the whole structure is complete.

CONCRETE MOLDS OF BALUSTERS – Unearthed near the septic tank on February 2008, these concrete molds were used to make the balusters (A pillar or column supporting a handrail or coping, in a series forming a balustrade) at the veranda and dates back in the early 1920′s when the construction of the mansion began.

See one of the Philippines’ old architectural structure and learn its history.

Don Mariano “Anoy” Ledesma Lacson

When the house deteriorated, a group from Silay decided to restore the house. The ancestral house became a museum. Some of the furnitures among other things were donated by various people. The Balay Negrense Museum contains Gaston’s telephone, books, a doll, piano etc. It will make you feel how it was to live in the house during his time. It’s like going back from the 19th century.

The doll inside a glass casket, the telephone and the piano.

Rear part of the first floor

Grand staircase.

The Balay Negrense

When you get here, be sure to go around the house. Visit each room. It will be worth it. The museum currently has an entrance fee of Php 10.00.  Balay Negrense can be found at Cinco de Noviembre St. in Silay City, Negros Occidental.

The name derived from a shrub called “bago-bago” that grows along the river bank. On it’s historical account, the name of the city derived from the name of a large tree called Bago under which, a native prince by the name of Mapagic died which was according to Spanish Historian named Diego Lope de Povedano

The city owns the longest bridge in the province called the “Bago Bridge”.