A boutique hotel spurs recollections of a past unlived

The Germans, for all of the emotional coldness ascribed to them, are the most adept at having the perfect word to describe a situation of compounded situations. For example: schadenfreude, or the delight over someone else’s misfortune. Weltschmerz is another, which means “sentimental pessimism or melancholy over the state of the world,” as per the 1986 Second College Edition of Webster's New World Dictionary.

Then there’s sehnsucht, which is a sense of nostalgia that is more ardent that usual—a longing so profound and intense, even if the object of nostalgia is something that is yet to be experienced or even understood, that the real world pales in comparison.

The A9 house in front of the rotunda is where The Henry Hotel’s reception and restaurant are located. Image by Shaira Luna.

It’s a word that could explain the charm that The Henry Manila has. Open since December 2014, the hotel has caught the fancy of a specific type of people: Those looking for places in Manila that have character and history—particularly a history they love to reminisce about even if they have never lived through it.

The Henry Manila’s very bones provide this. The five houses found within what used to be referred to locally as “the Chinese compound” were built after the Second World War, hence their Liberation-style architecture: clapboards, wide windows, high ceilings. Upon seeing them during a visit to designer Eric Paras’ workshop, which was also located within the compound, Innovoterra Properties, Inc. chairman Hanky Lee was instantly charmed by the place.

It took a few years for his vision to come to fruition, however. It was only after he had partnered with Atlas Properties Shared Services, Inc. that the work to put up what is now The Henry Manila began. “This was really a passion project for him,” says architect Justin Basco, who oversaw the project. “The idea of The Henry Manila actually predates the one in Cebu.” (That would be The Henry Hotel Cebu, a pop art- and industrialism-inspired boutique hotel that opened in 2012.) It was only in 2013 when the developers got to start planning the needed renovation to transform the houses into 34 hotel rooms, with the big main house, A9, housing the reception as well as the Apartment 1B-run restaurant.

Soft pastels play off against the warm reds, browns, and yellows in the hotel’s interiors. Image courtesy of The Henry Hotel.

The houses’ structures have been well-maintained through the decades that the major renovations needed were merely structural reinforcement, insulation, utilities, plumbing, and drainage for the whole site. The developers also wanted to employ an adaptive reuse of the already available materials so as to stay truer to the place’s roots. “The houses are largely 80 to 90% the original structures,” says Basco. “The roofs have been repaired over the years, since they're generally the first ones to get worn out, but since 1948, corrugated steel roofing has been available so the same materials are still used for repairs. All of our windows are still the original ones.”

In the case of garages that were converted into suites, some windows were moved from the other houses for these new spaces, and French-style doors that open into enclosed patios were installed instead in their original spots. “It’s a good thing that the original design is simple, not so detailed and intricate, so they weren’t hard to replicate.” The wooden floors and the colorful Baldoza tiles—there were more than 20 different patterns found all over the property—were also kept.  

High ceilings and wide, grilled windows speak of the suite’s Liberation-style architecture. Image courtesy of The Henry Hotel.

Character, meanwhile, comes through the hotel’s lived-in, homey feel. In its rooms, the warm reds, browns, and oranges of design elements such as lighting fixtures, some of which were sourced from all over the country and some custom-made by Paras, play off against the pastel lightness of the linens and the artworks and knick knacks featured in each room. Antique reworked armoires and solid beds, each custom-made as well with uniquely designed headboards, also provide “hard” contrast to the softness of the upholstery. All the artworks on display, by the way, come from Paras’ showroom and are available for sale.

There’s also stark contrast between the cozy, intimate feel of the rooms and the bathrooms, which feature a retro feel with their all-white tiles (subway ones on the wall and hexagonal ones for the floor). Basco discloses, “It became a conscious decision to use clinical white lighting in the bathrooms, so there’s some drama in the transition between them and the rest of the suite.

Each suite comes with designer lighting fixtures and beds that feature custom-made headboards. Image by Shaira Luna.

“We did research on what was trendy during the time the houses were built,” he continues. “We play off that ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s vibe with the warm color palette, but in terms of being era-specific, there’s no specific one that we had set out to recreate. We want the place to have the feel of an evolving, well-maintained home, not a museum house.”

That extends to the landscaping outside, which was designed by the late Ildefonso P. Santos, the Philippine National Artist for landscape architecture known for his work in the Luneta Park. Santos had selected post-war plants that could now be found only in provincial backyards, such as rosal, palmera, santan, lantana, champaca, and more. They enclose the hotel’s backyard pool, and in the afternoons, when only the rippling of water and the faint twittering of birds could be heard, it’s impossible to believe that one is still in Manila.

“Most of the plants here have practical functions too,” says Basco: bamboo provides privacy, gardenias and rosal natural scents, champaca, pandakaki, and caballero visual splendor. Caballeros, in fact, line the driveway, and every May, their red, orange, and yellow blossoms create an arresting canopy. The stately acacia trees have long been in the lawn, though, even when it was still decrepit and had a concrete driveway. Now, the drive up from the compound gates to A9 is covered in gravel, adding to the place’s rustic feel along with the French-style fountain at the rotunda. Near the main house are three grown kalachuchis that make early morning lounging particularly fragrant.

Local flora enclose the hotel’s outdoor pool. Image by Shaira Luna.

Yet given the dreamy, part-provincial part-grand estate feel of The Henry Manila, the hotel’s name was deliberately chosen for a more international appeal. “’Henry’ is a name that, for Hanky, personified a well-traveled person,” says The Henry Hotel’s marketing manager Rozzana Gonzalez. “There are also a lot of Henrys in history, from the Kings Henry to Henry Ford, so it’s very global-sounding. It also sparks people’s curiosity, from a marketing viewpoint: ‘Who’s Henry?’ ‘Henry’ represents the ideal guests Hanky wants to have in the hotel and for his properties, as his vision is to create destination hotels all over the country.”

And with this charming and quaint boutique hotel located in Pasay—an unconventional choice for this kind of accommodation—it indeed becomes a “destination,” a typically uncharted territory for those looking for new spots to explore. Given The Henry’s nearby neighbors, though, which, in addition to Paras, are designer Jojie Lloren and his atelier and the Artellano Art Gallery, the whole compound has become an arts and lifestyle hub that’s also an oasis in the midst of the urban buzz and congestion of the city. “If you think about it, it’s not so far from Makati or from Mall of Asia, but that point is just not communicated well,” says Gonzalez. “It’s just a matter of changing perceptions, and that’s where the surprise element in the property comes in.” There’s context to how the blight outside frames the serenity inside.

In some suites, French doors open up to cozy balconies. Image by Shaira Luna.

With two unique hotels already on their portfolio, the developers are still mulling over the location of the next one. “The Henry Manila is a good example of heritage consultation and adaptive reuse, though we also did the same with Cebu,” says Basco. “With the next one, we’re not sure if we're also going historical or vintage.” (The developers had planned to open 10 new locations in 2020, though with the pandemic, these plans have been put on hold. The Henry Hotel in Dumaguete, however, seems to be open already.)  

“Each property is concept-driven, taking into consideration the personality of the next hotel and its location. Each property would be unique: no standard design, no standard room size. We could go urban or resort, mixed use, industrial—whatever we want.” As The Henry’s tagline puts it, like no other.

A version of this story was published in the April 2016 issue of Garage Magazine. Lead image is by Shaira Luna. Featured model is Eduardo from Elite, styled by Jerico Villamonte.