Going Downtown Iloilo
European-looking buildings that have been marked with the year when they have been built are insignia that you are in downtown Ilo-ilo.
The city of Iloilo has this project of shutting the streets from vehicles that the public will just be ambulant (in the same fashion as Vigan's Calle Oro). I can imagine the place to be VERY classy and beautiful, and once the project is done, Iloilo can expect a surge of tourists.However, downtown Iloilo is also home to a lot of thriving businesses, particularly shops and groceries where you can buy items in surplus/bulk. Pushing through with the project might mean negotiating to relocate these businesses, having a designated parking lot to these businesses, or I don't know what.
But anyway, here are some snippets of downtown Iloilo and the on-going restoration project:
Looking at the buildings, it is as if people had so much time in their hands. They went for the unnecessary and IMO, the excessive.
Check out the details on the roofing! O__O I can imagine the effort they put in to make those little scrolls, and making sure that everything looked symmetrical and identical.
One particular building that I liked in downtown (maybe because it wasn't painted YET) was this:
(And if they are ever going to repaint that, I might as well pray that they use some neutral color. Gwarsh, I hope they do a good job of it!)
What I noticed of the buildings was that they too, bear names of people. I noticed two names - S. Villanueva and Celso Ledesma.
After much Googling, I still don't know who S. Villanueva is. But I was at least able to find Celso Ledesma. (Yea men, talk about stalking the dead!)
So my best guess is, Celso Ledesma is one of these high-society filthy-rich Fil-hispanics. My.Best.Guess.
And look just what Google can do. Celso Ledesma is apparently the same person who owns this mansion:
Which of course, made me realize he built himself a home first before he had that building. They also call the Celso Ledesma mansion, the Eagle Mansion.
Now if I can only get in this house... hahaha!
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If you are in Iloilo, be sure to have a walking tour of downtown. Give yourself enough time to look at the art-deco Italian-style looking buildings. If you love architecture and the arts, you should find this tour interesting. :)