Mariano Ramos Ancestral House
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The Mariano Ramos Ancestral House is the ancestral home of the late Don Mariano Ramos, first appointed Presidente Municipal of Bacolod City, Philippines. It was built in the 1930s and its architecture is a combination of Castillian and Tuscan in nature and comprises three stories including the tower room, known as the "torre."
During World War II, this house was the most prominent structure over the whole city. The high commanding Japanese generals seized the Ramos family house in order to use it as a watchtower and as a command-control center over Bacolod City.
[edit] Prominence in Bacolod City during the 1930s
On a small stretch of Burgos Street once known as Millionaires' Row, still standing today are the several grand houses belonging to one of the richest and landed families of Bacolod. The most imposing of these is the house built by the Ramos family patriarch Don Mariano Ramos, the first Municipal President (Mayor) of Bacolod.
In 1935, he commissioned Architect Mendoza of Manila to design and build him a house in the Castillian and Tuscan style .
The most prominent feature of the house is the three-story octagonal tower that gave the owners a panoramic view of the city and the surrounding landscape.
At the back portion of the house is one rounded balcony adjacent to the master bedroom, reminding one of the famous Romeo and Juliet balcony.
Don Mariano Ramos loved to entertain. Many elegant parties were held here attended by the creme de la creme of Bacolod society and visited by both local and national government officials. One such guest was Mariano's close friend and classmate, Philippine President Manuel L. Quezon.
Legendary in those days were his twenty or more cars of different makes chauffered by Spanish-descent and Filipino drivers.
