MEDIUM RARE

I don’t know much about architecture, I only know what I like, what I see when I step into a house for the first time.

For such a house as old as Goldenberg Mansion, built in 1898 and one of the gems that form the President’s residential estate, it has got to be the prettiest of the lot. Preceding the art deco movement by a good two decades, the mansion has a romantic look about it – frilly arches, sinuous lines, a graceful colonnade, a fountain around which cars make a curve to drop off their passengers. Black and white marble tiles on the floor, lovingly polished for the sake of visitors, gleam under Czech-made chandeliers.

Apparently, this building is the favorite of President Marcos’ mother, Imelda Romualdez Marcos, because this is where she chooses to hold her monthly merienda with friends and supporters from the good old days. Seems like it was built to make visitors feel at home, she hinted.

The mansion was bought in 1950 by a cosmetics magnate by the name of Michael Goldenberg, who made it his home and office. Traffic is usually light on the street. According to residents who consider themselves the President’s immediate neighbors, water service and power interruptions are not in their vocabulary.

The mansion and other structures within the complex, including Teus Mansion, Kalayaan Hall, and Bahay Ugnayan, were part of a series of renovations undertaken by First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos. When I stepped into the Goldenberg’s ladies’ room last week, it was a five-star experience with an old-world feel, with help from fresh white orchids. Up on the ceiling, painted ladies were having their hair combed, hair so long it touched the floor, their portraits alternating with handwritten poems in Spanish.

Another pretty feature of the mansion is a series of courtyards and pocket gardens, their roofs, posts, walls all painted white. No wonder, according to a member of the staff, the mansion is a favorite events place for people getting married, but it is not a hotel.  

A note to my dear readers: Starting next week, Medium Rare will appear twice a week – time to calm down, slow down — on Thursdays and Saturdays only, with the Boss’ blessings: “No worries.”