SUBSCRIBE2 Du houses in San Nicolas, Cebu City, 1
I was at San Nicolas early this morning to take photos of the church there for a future post in my Simbahan blog and while walking around, I saw two ancestral houses in the bahay na bato style within a block of each other and a stone’s throw from the church compound. I was told that these are owned by the Du family who now reside just beside the other house. As of now, these are rented out to Chinese businessmen.
The house, left, is said to be older than the original stone church in the area that was destroyed many decades ago. As the man that I talked to put it, it was where the men who constructed the church used to stay while erecting it. However, with no visible year of construction outside, and as I’ve not really asked the Du family about the history of the houses or read about this area, this has yet to be verified.
The lower portion of the house or the bato part, is made of blocks of corals, the same material that can be seen in colonial churches within Cebu. Its surface, later covered with a thin layer cement, has deteriorated that some parts have been exposed, left, showing these blocks.
At the rear part of the house, a stone buttress made of the same coral blocks and covered with cement can be found. A small portion has eroded and exposed the material. Unfortunately, unscrupulous persons made this spot a urinating area.
This house is in a bad state and badly neglected. The walls are exposed and also pasted with candidates’ posters in the last election. Portions of the wooden part are flimsy with some wooden boards missing. I haven’t been inside the house but from the looks of it, its not much better.
Next is Part 2.
