The Concepcion Chalet
The Concepion Chalet's facade.The fourth generation owner Attorney Antonio “Tony” Concepcion Pastelero, the oldest grandchild of Lolo Pepe and Lola Ina was born in this chalet and has decided to breathe new life into this graceful and dignified abode.
The period just before the Second World War and after the Philippine American War ushered in a time of economic prosperity and political stability all throughout the country. This period was known as “Peacetime.” The sugar industry was at its apex and so was the Philippine Peso that in this time just before and into the Commonwealth Period, a new kind of architecture appeared in the Philippines. ThePhilippine chalet (pronounced in the Spanish manner as tsa-let and not the Swiss French manner from where the term must have evolved ) was born.
According to Architect and Conservationist Augusto “Toti” Villalon of ICOMOS, the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the Philippine chalet was a raised one-storey structure made of reinforced concrete, cut milled wood and glass set back from the street with a garden in front. Different from the two or three storey Balay nga Bato that was set right next to the street, the chalet was wired for electric conveniences and had ensuite bathrooms and plumbing. At the same time, the chalet kept the deep voladas or eaves and the ventanillas or sliding panels under the windows sometimes still of capiz, but more often of affordable glass panels. These features and the raised flooring gave the chalet natural ventilation much needed in the tropical humidity and heat.
The wooden filigree carvings of The Concepcion Chalet.This “modern Philippine architecture” must have caught the fancy of Attorney Jose Poblador Concepcion, Sr that in 1924 he built a chalet across the Ledesma ancestral home for his wife Rosalina Benedicto Ledesma along Washington Street. Made of hardwood milled from the original floor planks of the old house across the street, the modest structure had rooms that opened to public spaces with hand carved wooden filligree cutwork and encaustic cement tiles (from the Machuca Tile Company that had opened in 1900) sporting decorative foliage in the Art Nouveau and Art Deco Styles. The fourth generation owner Attorney Antonio “Tony” Concepcion Pastelero, the oldest grandchild of Lolo Pepe and Lola Ina was born in this chalet and has decided to breathe new life into this graceful and dignified abode.
Through his cousin Cynthia Concepcion Baga and her fellow incorporators, the chalet is home to G.A.M.O.T. Resources, Inc. A foundation established in 1993, it concerns itself with personal, community and organizational development and offers services in various healing processes including physical, spiritual and psychological guidance. The Concepcion Chalet is open as a Bed and Breakfast facility as well, and inquiries may be made through: The Concepcion Chalet, AGAMOT Center of Transformation, 145 Washington Street, Jaro, Iloilo City with telephone numbers (033) 3295354 and mobile phone number 0923-6871799.
