Qualla: Daku Balay https://qualla.com/daku-balay en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:37 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/w/9/z/k/daku-balay-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Daku Balay https://qualla.com/daku-balay Daku Balay: Introduction https://qualla.com/daku-balay/ Photo credit Craig Scharlin, CC BY-SA 3.0. The neighbors called it the Boat House. With its curved concrete balconies, steel-cased porthole windows, and graceful parapets, the three-story mansion on Burgos Street in Bacolod looked like a landlocked ocean liner. The family had a simpler name: Daku Balay, Hiligaynon for big house. Its builder, sugar planter Generoso M. Villanueva, designed the entire structure himself, and according to family legend, he did it to settle a score -- fulfilling a vow to someday build the tallest house in the city so he could literally look down on the home of a business and political rival.

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Image: Craig Scharlin | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/9/z/k/daku-balay-wp/w9zk-daku-balay-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Daku Balay: Art Deco from Local Hands https://qualla.com/daku-balay/ Photo credit John Albert Pagunsan / SnappyHip, CC BY-SA 3.0. Villanueva took three years, from 1933 to 1936, to realize his vision. He hired Cebu engineer Salvador Cinco to execute the construction, but the design was entirely his own. The result was the first art deco structure in Bacolod, and it was built entirely from local materials. D...

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Image: John Albert Pagunsan / SnappyHip | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/9/z/k/daku-balay-wp/w9zk-daku-balay-art-deco-from-local-hands.mp3 0:06 2 full Daku Balay: Hardwood, Snakes, and Spiders https://qualla.com/daku-balay/ Photo credit Craig Scharlin, CC BY-SA 3.0. Every detail in the Daku Balay carries Villanueva's personal stamp. The living room floors combine at least seven different Philippine hardwoods, selected by color and natural grain and laid in classical art deco patterns. Each of the solid molave doors is carved with delicate ar...

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Image: Craig Scharlin | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/9/z/k/daku-balay-wp/w9zk-daku-balay-hardwood-snakes-and-spiders.mp3 0:06 3 full Daku Balay: Seat of Power https://qualla.com/daku-balay/ Photo credit Patrickroque01, CC BY-SA 4.0. When the Japanese occupied Bacolod on May 21, 1942, Lieutenant General Takeshi Kawano Kono seized the Daku Balay for his headquarters. The tallest building in the city became its watchtower. For the entirety of the war, the mansion served as the seat of power for the Japanese for...

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Image: Patrickroque01 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/9/z/k/daku-balay-wp/w9zk-daku-balay-seat-of-power.mp3 0:06 4 full Daku Balay: The Patriarch's Legacy https://qualla.com/daku-balay/ Photo credit Nuwordlife0rder, CC0. What makes the Daku Balay remarkable is not just its architecture but the ambition that produced it. Generoso Villanueva was a sugar planter, not a trained architect or designer. He never saw the art deco landmarks of New York or Paris firsthand. Yet the building he imagined and ...

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Image: Nuwordlife0rder | CC0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/9/z/k/daku-balay-wp/w9zk-daku-balay-the-patriarchs-legacy.mp3 0:06 5 full