Private Chapel in the Dionisio Ancestral House, Malabon (Detail)

THE DIONISIO FAMILY HOUSE IN OLD MALABON

Beyond Style Through Time

Historians list various years for Malabon town’s foundation; being 1571, 1600, 1607 and 1670. Records show that March 21, 1599, Tambobong (the old name of Malabon) came under the administration of the Augustinian Friars. During the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Tambobong benefited from its robust economic activities due to its proximity to the Walled City of Intramuros and the Galleon Trade in the Manila Bay Area. After the American Revolution of 1896-1898, Twentieth Century Malabon became a town of the Rizal Province through the Philippine Commission Act No. 137.

Old Malabon houses several old homes of historical value: the Dionisio family home, the Rivera house, the Villongco house, the Luna house, the Martinez house, the Chikiamco house, the Rojas-Borja house, the (Teodoro) Luna house, the Santos-Lapus house, the Pantaleon Bautista house, the Syjuco (formerly Gaza) house, and the Raymundo house, considered to be the oldest located along C. Arellano Street. Other old but well-preserved heritage houses in Malabon include the Asilo de Huérfanos, the Paez House, and the Nepomuceno House.

Of the aforementioned houses, the enduring allure of the Dionisio house encapsulated the genteel lifestyle of Old Malabon, what with its heirloom furnishings that saw through the erudite eyes of the late great interior designer Ediith Oliveros, who was the big hand in the interiors restoration.

Built in the 1920s by a chemist named Martin Dionisio, the big, massive stone and wood house on General Luna street was restored by a third generation descendant, Ma. Paz “Cita” Dionisio Bautista, and her husband Cesar, who himself comes from another home just a few hundred meters away. Edith Oliveros, who was the cousin of Ma. Paz Dionisio Bautista, had a soft spot for old furnishings, herself having grown up in an ancestral house in Laguna.

The formal living room on the second floor can be reached via a superlative grand narra banistered metal railed staircase with a beautiful cut work metal décor above the staircase.

The house has served as a venue for many parties and occasions and the furniture, has always stood for gracious entertaining, having survived guests who have danced till dawn to the music of live orchestras.

The living room featured an austere cane Art Moderne Narra set from the mid 1930s and wooden green planters topped with green plants, all livened up by a Burgundy red rug.

The family room featured a shaggy rug, wicker upholstered sofas, antique style longing chaises and an Alcuaz portrait of the Lady of the house.

The family room has replaced the old drug store in the ground floor of the old house. Upstairs, one would find the austere looking wooden sala set from the 1930s in the formal sala, a grand piano, a generous amount of narra wood paneling that displays the magnificence of this incredible wood, lattice work ceiling room partitions, glass paneled windows side by side with louvered shutters, a romantic azotea and a small family chapel.

From the variety of aparadores to the period tables and chairs, the heirloom furniture of the Dionisio house provides spirited aesthetic suggestions that go beyond style through time in any space that they are destined to grace.

(In connection with the Leon Gallery online auction on July 27-28, 2018. Please see www.leonexchange.com for more information. Photo and texts from the auction catalogue.)

Taken on: August 1, 2018

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