Bahay na Bato

Bahay na bato, Filipino for stone house, is a traditional Philippine architectural style that originated during the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines, 1565 to 1898, and was especially popular among the ruling upper class and middle class families of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is also called arquitectura mestiza, or mixed architecture, because it combines wood and stone construction, drawing on elements of the older bahay kubo adapted for the Philippines' tropical climate and frequent typhoons and earthquakes. A bahay na bato encloses a wooden upper frame within thick stone or brick walls to form a ground floor called the silong, used for storage, stables and workshops and reached through a main entrance called the puerto, while the upper floor holds the family's living quarters, reached by internal stairs and distinguished by overhanging balustrades and capiz-shell sliding windows.