Houses that Sugar Built

Houses that Sugar Built: An Intimate Portrait of Philippine Ancestral Homes explores the largely unknown architectural legacy to be found in the ancestral houses of Iloilo, Negros Occidental and Pampanga – the three main sugar-producing provinces of the Philippines. These grand residences have yet to receive international exposure.

Nonetheless, they are important in two ways. Firstly, although easily classifiable in terms of architectural style, upon experiencing the buildings themselves there are almost always layers of additional influence. Secondly, this assured blending of styles reveals what we might call a ‘Critical Ambition’ – a desire on the part of the patrons who commissioned these residences to participate in an international architectural culture. Their relatively overlooked location did not stop the sugar barons responsible for these houses from undertaking a 20th-century form of the Grand Tour of European capitals, returning with a desire to bring the latest trends from Paris or Vienna to the provincial Philippines, or from partaking of the latest streamlined Moderne style from the US.

Beautifully photographed, with over 200 pages of interiors that have rarely been seen by the public, Houses that Sugar Built: An Intimate Portrait of Philippine Ancestral Homes is layered with intimate stories and individual house texts that transport us back to a time when these residences were in their heyday.

Author Biography

Based in London, Gina Consing McAdam has worked in Manila, Madrid, New York and Paris. She is the author of three books of company and organisational history, including a history of the luxury Lanesborough hotel in London. Her essays have been published in noted anthologies of Philippine writing. She holds an MA in 20th Century English & American Literature from Newcastle University in England. Her family roots are in the Philippine sugar industry.

Siobhan Doran is a freelance architectural and interiors photographer. Based in Berkhamsted, England, she works in the UK and internationally. Among her commissions have been photography books documenting the major renovations of The Savoy and The Lanesborough hotels in London. Her work has been exhibited at the MAST Foundation for Photography in Bologna and twice at The Royal Academy of Arts, which in 2023 selected a photograph from Houses that Sugar Built for its annual Summer Exhibition. Originally from Dublin, Siobhan has a first-class degree in Photography from the University of Westminster.