Discovering Casa Roces

Original art deco doors at Casa Roces' Daily Mirror room

If you happen to find yourself in need of an art fix down Malacañang’s way, in the environs of the historic San Miguel district of Manila, head straight for Casa Roces on JP Laurel Street. Peachy Roces Prieto and her daughter, jewelry designer Bianca Santos, took an uninhabited family home and transformed it into a venue for wonderful meals and exhibiting art.

Casa Roces stands right across the presidential palace. Open for almost a year now, the Commonwealth-era abode has been thoughtfully refurbished to retain much of its original structure and details. The original Machuca tiles still line the floors of Kape Chino, the ground floor café that serves simple but lovely meals. Diners enjoy views of the Impy Pilapil and Eduardo Castrillo metal sculptures in the garden.

The polished wooden staircase brings you to the second floor landing, now designated as a gallery. The spacious Galeria Roces leads off into five function rooms that carry the names of Roces family publications: La Vanguardia, The Daily Tribune, The Daily Mirror, Liwayway, and Manila Times. An old world graciousness and gentility permeates throughout the place, a distinct departure from the sterile white walls we normally associate with viewing art.

“We wanted to display art as it would look at home,” Bianca explains. Lito Carating’s heavily textured abstract paintings hang amidst furniture resurrected from bodegas of various clan members. His exhibit, simply titled Norberto Carating Recent Works would open in a few days, but had already been installed on the day of my visit. Three of his paintings burst with bright oranges, greens, and blues, quite unusual for an artist known for rigid patterns and subdued colors.

The café and function rooms serve as the gallery’s backroom. More pieces for sale fill their walls. Among them, at the waiting area for the restrooms on the second floor, a Juan Luna sketch.

Casa Roces gives us a charming alternative for dining and art. I was surprised at how busy they were, more so apparently in the evenings and on weekends. The President has been known to stroll over unannounced from across the street. You may just bump into him enjoying chorizo and other Spanish Filipino specialties, flavored by whatever the Casa Roces ladies have on their walls at the moment.

Norberto Carating Recent Works runs from 10 March 2012 at Galeria Roces, 2F Casa Roces, 1153 JP Laurel corner Aguado Streets, San Miguel, Manila. Phone (632) 8991829 or visit https://www.facebook.com/casarocesphils