The house was built in the late 17th century by Marcela’s grandfather, Andres Marino, making it one of the oldest, if not the oldest structure in the town.  Don Felipe and Dona Marcela had six offspring, all daughters who never married. Like most Spanish-era ancestral  houses, the main living quarters were located on the second floor which still has its original wooden floorboards.  The antique furniture, arranged in the Louie XVI (Luis Quince) and Charles XII (Carlos Trece) style, are mixed with Viennese bentwood pieces.

The garden with Marcela’s statue

The house is now managed by the National Historical Institute with Ms. Estela Atienza as curator.  We were toured by Mrs. Sylvia Alvarez who showed us the house’s antique period furniture, a chart showing the family’s genealogy, the library of old Tagalog, English and French books; portraits of Don Andres, Doña Marcela and Don Felipe in the chapel-shaped drawing room (with its carved ceiling and four corner angels), capiz windows and a display of the different flags of the revolution at the basement.  Beside the house, and accessible by a steel gate from the street, is a garden with flagpoles displaying the Katipunan and revolutionary flags as well as a bronze statue of Dona Marcela presenting the new flagsculpted by Florante Caido and inaugurated on February 14, 1985.