Bahay na Bato

The bahay na bato ("house of stone") is the urban house type that developed in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period (1565-1898). It combines a masonry ground storey with a lighter timber upper storey, and it keeps the steep, overhanging roof of the native bahay kubo while changing the covering from thatch to tile and, later, metal.

Origins

The form grew out of practical failures. Spanish colonists first planned stone mansions on European lines, but a major earthquake in Manila in 1645 showed that heavy masonry upper floors were dangerous. Fire was the other recurring threat in thatched towns. Builders therefore kept a timber upper floor, which flexes in earthquakes, over a fire-resistant stone or brick base.

Roof forms

Roofs are high-pitched and take three main forms:

• Hip roof (cuatro aguas, "four waters"), sloping on all four sides. It is regarded as stronger than a gable roof because it resists wind better, and its overhang on every side shades the walls and keeps rain off.
• Gable roof (dos aguas, "two waters").
• Combinations of hip and gable, similar to the hip-and-gable roofs of East Asia.

Over the upper-floor windows, small shed roofs called media agua protect window openings from sun and rain. Some houses carry carved stone spouts (gargoyles) to throw roof water clear of the walls, and later examples add decorative timber trim along the eaves.

Roof coverings

• Curved clay tiles (teja de curva), the Spanish pan-and-cover tile sometimes called "monk and nun" tile.
• Thatch of nipa, sago palm or cogon grass, carried over from the native house.
• Galvanised iron sheet, introduced in later 19th-century houses; it was lighter than tile, which mattered in earthquakes, and less of a fire risk than thatch.

Surviving houses show all of these, sometimes on the same street.

Legacy

The bahay na bato is a key part of Philippine architectural heritage and the model for many later revival designs. Its hipped, deep-eaved metal roofs set the pattern for much of the 20th-century Philippine house.

Local terms

• cuatro aguas - hip roof
• dos aguas - gable roof
• media agua - shed roof over a window
• teja de curva - curved clay tile
• kalaka - halved bamboo laid like tiles