HISTORIC TAAL CITY, BATANGAS, PHILIPPINES - andresalvador's Photos- powered by SmugMug

andre' salvador
PHOTOGRAPHY

Taal City in the Province of Batangas has a lot of wooden domestic residences that dates back more than a hundred years. Some are deteriorating due to lack of funds.

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andresalvador > Taal City lies on the west side of Taal Lake. Taal Lake is a lake that formed on the crater of a volcano. Just like the City of Vigan, in Ilocos Sur Province, Taal City has plenty of of old homes done during the Spanish times which is more than 100 years ago. The homes are built of wood and stones. Some are still preserved today but many are deteriorating as the owners have no money to maintain and restore the structures. Most are domestic structures and two churches. One church is the Church of Our Lady of Casasay and the other one is the Basilica of St. Martin of Tours. The photo shown is the bell tower of the Basilica of St. Martin of Tours.

andresalvador > This is the altar of the historic Basilica of St. Martin of Tours. The site occupies a high promontory at the center of the City. The altar does not show much of its age but the exterior of the church does and everything else not within the area of the altar.

andresalvador > The bell tower from the rear side.

andresalvador > This photo was taken inside the Basilica of St. Martin of Tours. This is one of the side altars where you offer candles, prayers and promises for a wish that you want granted. On some catholic churches they even have a money box for those who wants to offer money. There are so many faithfuls who come to this altar where you can offer candles, prayers and money for their wish to be granted that stores near the churches and peddlers sells candles to earn extra money.

andresalvador > This is one of the old houses needing repairs. It has caps shell sliding windows on three sides of the house.

andresalvador > This house badly needs repair. The windows are falling aprt so are the sliding panels below the windows behind the grilles.

andresalvador > This is an old wood house built in early 1800. It was not a house that belongs to the Historical Registry because the owner repaired the ground floor without matching the original materials of the original house. The house has exposed wood post of tree trunks, still crooked in their original shapes. The wood framing are all exposed. The second floor windows are all sliding from corner to corner, made of white Capiz shells. Below the windows are sliding solid wood panels that can slide open for additional ventilation. So are the capiz shell sliding panels above the windows. It can slide open to let the warm air out. On this photo you can see the wood post of a tree trunk with a picture frame hanging on to it. The wood panels are already bleached white because of age and being exposed to the sun all the time while still wet. Those wood panels are from one piece of solid wood. The window sills and header are from 4" x 14 " wood sections.

andresalvador > This is how this owner dries their clothes since there is no ground to string a clothesline. This is also an old house that has seen repairs but the replacements, do not match the originals in materials, forms nd shapes.

Taal City lies on the west side of Taal Lake. Taal Lake is a lake that formed on the crater of a volcano. Just like the City of Vigan, in Ilocos Sur Province, Taal City has plenty of of old homes done during the Spanish times which is more than 100 years ago. The homes are built of wood and stones. Some are still preserved today but many are deteriorating as the owners have no money to maintain and restore the structures. Most are domestic structures and two churches. One church is the Church of Our Lady of Casasay and the other one is the Basilica of St. Martin of Tours. The photo shown is the bell tower of the Basilica of St. Martin of Tours.