“There’s only one country I haven’t been to. Nepal. I don’t know why—I just haven’t had the chance,” Don Ado told us after he overheard me asking my friend Karla, “Can you guess how many countries he has traveled to?” It wasn’t a question concocted out of the blue. I sincerely wondered about it after surveying the massive art, historic, religious, and souvenir collection housed safely inside Don Ado’s private ancestral mansion.
Discovering a Trove of Cultural and Historical Relics at Villa Escudero
A One-Man Curator of History and Culture
Inheriting a distinct flair for collecting mementos of profound significance from his parents, Arsenio and Rosario Escudero—who were also the original founders of Villa Escudero—Don Conrado (Ado) successfully multiplied the family’s collection through his own passion for assembling relics with traditional, spiritual, artistic, and historic importance.
The house where he resides is dotted from wall to wall with rare items brought back from all over the world. The long hallway leading to the master’s and guest rooms is elegantly decked with priceless paintings from prominent Filipino painters such as Fernando Amorsolo and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, just to name a few.
What is truly remarkable is the absolute sharpness of Don Ado’s memory in vividly recalling the tales behind most of his collections. At one point, he proudly pointed at a centuries-old wooden arch adorned with intricate carvings: “I got that at Yogyakarta. I passed by it near a temple and asked the caretaker if I could buy it. The next day I came in with a truck ready to haul it.”
He generously ushered us deep inside his house, entering a spacious living room completely filled with classical sculptures, religious statues, oil paintings, old photographs, colonial furniture, and other fascinating artifacts one usually only sees inside a highly curated national museum.
With my mind completely blown away and my jaw almost dropping to the floor, we ended our initial tour only to learn we had yet to see the real collection of the Escudero family—all of which are securely kept, but available for public viewing, at the Escudero Private Museum. “Now the real tour begins,” Don Ado enthusiastically told us.
Pink Church-Like Museum of Villa Escudero
How would you react if I told you that the original altar of the famous Quiapo Church is still in excellent, well-preserved condition? And no, it isn’t the one you currently see inside the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene in Manila. The stunning original altar is grandly housed inside the Escudero Museum, where it stands as a striking centerpiece completely surrounded by other priceless religious and historical pieces.
No thanks to the Church’s post-war parish priest who wanted to permanently replace the original altar with a new one—and full thanks to the Escudero family for actively recognizing the critical importance of conserving it—the original altar now proudly serves as the breathtaking highlight of the private museum.
If you're a history junkie, you will definitely have a splendid time inside the Villa Escudero museum. The massive place is almost completely stacked from wall to wall, ground to ceiling—on both floors—with stunning and historically significant pieces.
There is also a fascinating section dedicated strictly to taxidermy, where you can see flawlessly preserved animals such as the Philippine Eagle, the Tamaraw, and many others. Most of these were sourced from the many hunting soirees of the Escudero patriarch from the decades preceding WWII.
An absolute information overload and visual feast surely await every curious visitor who enters the doors of the Escudero Private Museum. While I found all the dense historical facts explained to us by Chef Cocoy Ventura III—Villa Escudero’s Executive Chef—hard to completely digest and compress inside my brain, I deeply welcomed all the newfound knowledge I amassed because it truly felt like going on a vivid time-travel journey through Philippine history.
The Heritage Houses: Escudero Mansion and Casa Consuelo
“But wait, there’s more,” rang inside my head as if I were actively watching a late-night home shopping show on TV. Only this time, rather than cheap products being advertised, we found ourselves being heavily indulged by a very enlightening walking tour around the vast architectural collection of the Escudero clan.
A sprawling, beautifully manicured garden seamlessly fronts the Villa Escudero Ancestral Mansion, where the other surviving sisters of Don Ado currently reside. It is generally not open for regular tourists, but we were highly fortunate to get inside with special permission from Don Ado himself. Built mostly from incredibly rare red narra wood, this grand pink and white mansion features a short flight of stairs leading to the heavy front door. Upon stepping inside, you will quickly notice the dark brown, polished wooden floor and thick marble tabletops.
Hanging lavish crystal chandeliers, rare artworks from famed local artists, heavy iron candle stands, and sacred religious statues—such as a life-size Nuestra Señora de Paloma made of solid ivory and a Sleeping Santo Niño (Santo Niño Dormido)—are just among the many eye-popping collections securely housed inside.
Casa Consuelo, on the other hand, was an old ancestral house originally constructed in Pampanga in the latter part of the 1800s. It used to be owned by then-Angeles City Mayor Don Esteban Gomez and his wife, Doña Josefa Pamintuan de Gomez. It was gracefully bought, transported to Villa Escudero piece by piece, and painstakingly reconstructed to its present site.
Today, it proudly stands as a perfect architectural accompaniment to the Escudero Ancestral House and Museum as an added cultural attraction beaming with an highly appealing colonial architecture—specifically embodying the ornate floral style heavily prevalent in the late 19th century.
“This is the only house that strictly houses authentic antique furniture. There isn’t a single fake here,” Don Ado boldly revealed in an earlier interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer. With incredibly wide windows and a roomy open layout, warm sunlight seeps through and brightly illuminates the vintage interior adorned with mostly native wooden materials and precious antique furniture.
Various historic rooms surround the square-shaped hallway directly overlooking an expansive, airy lobby. Masterful imprints from the works of art from the who's-who of the classical art world are safely kept in posterity inside this house. Isabelo Tampinco's wood sculptures, famous Chinese artisan Ah Tay's carved four-poster bed, and renowned European furniture maker August Thonet’s works are just some of the highlight pieces found inside.
Unlike the highly exclusive Escudero Ancestral Mansion, Casa Consuelo is fully included, along with the main Museum, in the heritage tours normally being offered by Villa Escudero to their daily guests.
More than just a beautiful place to unwind and relax close to nature, Villa Escudero—as I happily discovered—is also all about digging deeply into our rich cultural heritage. If these beautiful, preserved vestiges of the past which the Escuderos have meticulously collected and stored could talk, expect to listen for hours, days, and even weeks—as the fascinating stories they could tell might even last a lifetime. In the meantime, if you chance upon Don Ado roaming his estate, there is a big chance he will be more than willing to personally tell you some of these incredible historical stories.
