CENTURY OLD MANSION TURNED INTO A PRESIDENTIAL MUSEUM IN MANILA

Описание: Valentín Teus was born in 1832 in Navarra, Spain.  At the young age of 15, he ventured to the Philippines in search of business opportunities. He acquired a distillery in Hagonoy, Bulacan, which marked the beginning of his entrepreneurial journey. Teus later merged his operations with Ynchausti y Compañía, one of the earliest and most influential Philippine-owned conglomerates. Founded by the business magnates Joaquín Elizalde and Joaquín Ynchausti,  the company was heavily involved in shipping and trade.  Known for his industrious nature,  Teus eventually established what is now recognized as Tanduay Distilleries, Inc.— a cornerstone of the Philippine liquor industry.

 

Teus married Teresa Ferrater Ponte,  the niece of the Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines.  It was from this connection that he acquired the mansion which would later bear his name. Tragically, Teresa passed away just two decades into their marriage.

 

In 1871, Teus became Alcalde Primero of the Ayuntamiento de Manila, a prestigious civic post at the time. At the age of 62,  he remarried Dolores Menéndez Valdés de Cornellana, the  20-year-old niece of his late wife. Together,  they had four children:  Valentín Jr., who died young,  Concepción, Valentín III,  and Dolores.  The family initially resided in Binondo, but in a grand gesture of affection, Don Valentín surprised Dolores with a new residence at the corner of General Solano Street. This property would eventually become known as the Teus Mansion.

Don Valentín passed away in 1909. With most of his children migrating to Spain, his eldest daughter, Concepción, inherited the mansion. Concepción, after completing her education at the Assumption Convent in Manila, continued her studies in Spain, where she married and remained. Visits to the mansion became infrequent, and an elderly caretaker was left in charge of the estate.  Over time, the mansion began to fall into disrepair : the kitchen roof collapsed, and the attic became a refuge for bats.

In 1974, after years of neglect, Concepción decided to sell the mansion to then First Lady,  Imelda Romualdez Marcos,  thus ending the Teus family's ownership of the historic home.

This narrative not only traces the life of Don Valentín Teus but also chronicles the rise and fall of the Teus Mansion, a symbol of both entrepreneurial ambition and familial legacy in the Philippines.

The Teus Mansion, named after Valentín Teus Yrissari, a Basque immigrant who arrived in the Philippines in 1847, stands as a symbol of his success in the sugar and shipping industries.  He later founded Tanduay Distilleries, Inc.  and, in the 1870s,  married the niece of the Governor General,  acquiring the mansion as the family home.  Upon Don Valentín's passing in 1909,  the mansion was inherited by his eldest daughter,  Concepción Teus,  but with no interest from her descendants,  it was eventually offered to Former First Lady Imelda R. Marcos in the late 1970s.

Restored in 1975 by British designer Ronnie Laing and antique dealer Viring de Asis,  the mansion served as a guest house for visiting dignitaries of President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr.  Following the events of EDSA I, it remained unused and closed to the public.


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