Just recently I was thrilled to find myself inside one of the most beautiful and best-preserved heritage houses of Malabon, the ROJAS-BORJA HOUSE. Ascending the gleaming hardwood staircase, I instantly felt myself transported back in time to a gracious, bygone era.
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| A welcoming sight |
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| A quiet reading nook |
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| Charming decorative touches all around |
Pictures are not enough to describe how it felt to be there... as if Time had stood still in this house, and I was seeing everything exactly the way it was when the original owners, Manuel Borja and his wife Leona Rojas lived there in the 1920s.
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| Unmistakable elegance surpassing any modern architectural design you can think of |
The feeling of connection to the past was so palpable that, despite the din of jeepneys, tricycles and humanity surrounding it, inside that house, I could be oblivious to them all. It was like having Christopher Reeve's antique penny in his coat pocket in "Somewhere in Time" -- I was back in time and that was the reality of my moment.
Too bad, as soon as I stepped out on the sidewalk after the antique wrought-iron gate closed behind me, it was back to the 2010 reality of Malabon - more specifically, an unsightly concrete barangay hall that had the temerity to stand alongside and even block our view of a heritage gem!
Of one thing I am certain: even though the face of Malabon may have changed in ways that we no longer recognize, as long as we have our rich heritage, there is still much of her soul left to cherish...
My profound thanks to Dr. Zenaida Borja Gonzales for graciously letting me experience going back in time in their beautiful ancestral house.
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