In search of a brand new museum to go to in Quezon Metropolis? Try Bahay Modernismo, a home museum dedicated to Philippine fashionable heritage inside Quezon Memorial Circle. This distinctive house provides a glimpse into mid-Twentieth-century Filipino life and structure.
In case you’ve ever puzzled what life was like for residents of Quezon Metropolis again within the Nineteen Fifties to Nineteen Sixties, this small home museum provides a “throwback to an period of postwar optimism.” It’s like a time capsule you’ll be able to stroll by means of.
The museum formally opened to the general public on Might 30, 2025. I visited on the primary Sunday of its opening by bike to test it out and revisited the next weekend on a museum date to take higher images.
Based on the Nationwide Historic Fee of the Philippines (NHCP), Bahay Modernismo is the first museum on fashionable heritage. The museum highlights the evolution of city growth, modernism, and common tradition within the nation through the mid-Twentieth century.
The design and curation of Bahay Modernismo was led by famend architect and heritage conservationist Gerard Lico of ARC LICO, recreating the “midcentury home surroundings in Quezon Metropolis,” which is claimed to be “the birthplace of Philippine modernism.”
As defined in a single museum show upon getting into: “Rising from the ruins of the struggle, Quezon Metropolis was the promised land that supplied the empty slate for a brand new Filipino structure and domesticity to flourish.”
Based on the agency, the mid-century period was one outlined by hopes, optimism and reinvention and the museum manages to seize that spirit of postwar optimism.
Bahay Modernismo is housed in a split-level bungalow, which is a reconstruction of the demolished residence of the Aquino household previously situated at #25 Instances Avenue. The unique home holds quite a lot of historical past because it was as soon as dwelling to outstanding figures reminiscent of former President Corazon Aquino, Senator Ninoy Aquino, and President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. The brand new museum makes use of a few of the unique architectural fragments from the previous residence.
Strolling across the rooms, you’re greeted with nostalgic furnishings, home items, design components, and residential decor that replicate the tradition and types common in Quezon Metropolis’s suburbia throughout that period.
The principle eating space shows a historic timeline displaying the rise of suburbia and bungalow housing in Quezon Metropolis. Giant maps present the unique housing growth plans and the expansion of assorted districts.
Coming into every room is like getting into the pages of an previous journal, komiks, or the set of Pleasantville or Mad Males. I appreciated how the kitchen featured classic home equipment, artificial plastic tableware and nostalgic old-school packaging of meals merchandise, all the way down to handwritten recipes posted on the old-school fridge.
You will get an up-close have a look at the retro interiors, decor, and old-school family manufacturers. After I peeped into the loos, I noticed home items like toothpaste bins, cleaning soap and fragrance bottles with packaging reflective of the time. I additionally noticed familiar-looking toys and books that we grew up with, that have been handed down by means of generations.
The den is a treasure trove for popular culture lovers, with previous data, traditional typewriters and framed magazines like Liwayway, Panorama, Ilang-Ilang and displays showcased on the wall.
Bahay Modernismo additionally provides distinctive insights into Quezon Metropolis’s historical past and reveals the historical past and origins of vacationer landmarks and varied districts, making it supreme for anybody taken with structure and design.
One gallery highlights iconic landmarks within the metropolis, together with the Mabuhay Welcome Rotonda, the Araneta Coliseum, UP Diliman, Quezon Metropolis Memorial Circle, Balara Filters Park and iconic church buildings.
One other exhibit explains the rise of Area Age structure influenced by the optimism and futurism of the Atomic Age and the Area Race, as seen in geometric shapes and saucer-shaped designs just like the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice designed by Nationwide Artist Leandro V. Locsin.
Whether or not you’re taken with structure and design or are searching for a brand new place to go to within the space, Bahay Modernismo is a welcome addition to the museums inside Quezon Memorial Circle.
With the opening of Bahay Modernismo, there are at present 4 museums inside Quezon Memorial Circle that are actually open to the general public freed from cost. It’s also possible to go to the Museo ni Manuel Quezon and Mausoleum housed contained in the Quezon Memorial Shrine, the Quezon Heritage Home and the Presidential Automotive Museum.
Working hours
Bahay Modernismo is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Closed on Mondays. Admission is free to the general public.
Journey ideas
- Guests can’t deliver luggage or backpacks contained in the museum. You’ll be requested to depart your luggage close to the doorway.
- Whilst you can’t contact a few of the displays or props on show, we have been instructed that we might sit on the chairs in a few of the rooms for picture ops.
- Simply look out for the “don’t contact” indicators on a few of the cabinets and shows.
- Images (with out flash) inside is allowed. Video taking isn’t allowed until you get permission from the QC Tourism Division.
- You’ll be able to discover the museum by yourself or avail of a guided tour from the museum workers on obligation.
- In case you’re touring by bike, you’ll be able to deliver bikes by means of the gate and park within the storage. There’s a safety guard.
- There are spacious parking areas for automobiles close to the eating places and in entrance of the Presidential Automotive Museum close to this.
- In case you’re commuting, you’ll be able to take the free QCity Bus and get off at QC Corridor. Cross by means of the underpass to enter Quezon Memorial Circle.
- For inquiries, contact: qctourism.museums@gmail.com
Location and tackle
Bahay Modernismo is situated contained in the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon Metropolis. It’s between the Quezon Heritage Home and the Presidential Automotive Museum.
Associated