On the lookout for a brand new museum to go to in Quezon Metropolis? Take a look at Bahay Modernismo, a home museum dedicated to Philippine trendy heritage inside Quezon Memorial Circle. This distinctive area provides a glimpse into mid-Twentieth-century Filipino life and structure.
For those who’ve ever questioned 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 via.
The museum formally opened to the general public on Could 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.
In line with the Nationwide Historic Fee of the Philippines (NHCP), Bahay Modernismo is the first museum on trendy heritage. The museum highlights the evolution of city growth, modernism, and fashionable 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 coming into: “Rising from the ruins of the warfare, Quezon Metropolis was the promised land that offered the empty slate for a brand new Filipino structure and domesticity to flourish.”
In line with 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 Occasions Avenue. The unique home holds plenty of historical past because it was as soon as residence to distinguished 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 The brand new museum makes use of a few of the authentic architectural fragments from the outdated residence.
Strolling across the rooms, you’re greeted with nostalgic furnishings, home goods, design parts, and residential decor that mirror the tradition and types fashionable in Quezon Metropolis’s suburbia throughout that period.
The primary eating space shows a historic timeline exhibiting the rise of suburbia and bungalow housing in Quezon Metropolis. Giant maps present the unique housing growth plans and the expansion of varied districts.
Coming into every room is like getting into the pages of an outdated journal, komiks, or the set of Pleasantville or Mad Males. I favored 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 may get an up-close have a look at the retro interiors, decor, and old-school family manufacturers. Once I peeped into the bogs, I noticed home goods like toothpaste containers, 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 had been handed down via generations.
The den is a treasure trove for popular culture lovers, with outdated data, traditional typewriters and framed magazines like Liwayway, Panorama, Ilang-Ilang and reveals 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 numerous districts, making it excellent for anybody excited about 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 excited about structure and design or are on the lookout 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 presently 4 museums inside Quezon Memorial Circle that are actually open to the general public freed from cost. You may as well go to the Museo ni Manuel Quezon and Mausoleum housed contained in the Quezon Memorial Shrine, the Quezon Heritage Home and the Presidential Automobile 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 suggestions
- Guests can’t deliver baggage or backpacks contained in the museum. You’ll be requested to depart your baggage close to the doorway.
- Whilst you can’t contact a few of the reveals or props on show, we had been instructed that we might sit on the chairs in a few of the rooms for photograph 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 except you get permission from the QC Tourism Division.
- You possibly can discover the museum by yourself or avail of a guided tour from the museum workers on obligation.
- For those who’re touring by bike, you’ll be able to deliver bikes via 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 Automobile Museum close to this.
- For those who’re commuting, you’ll be able to take the free QCity Bus and get off at QC Corridor. Cross via 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 Automobile Museum.
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