The Henry Hotel Manila

Dan Brown’s Inferno portrays Manila as the “gates of hell”. Being at The Henry Manila though, tells me otherwise.

I don’t blame Mr. Brown. There was no Henry yet during the time he was writing one of his Robert Langdon bestseller series. So maybe Manila is notorious for traffic, congestion, and all kinds of pollution – but you leave all of these behind once you enter Henry’s “gates of paradise”.

Elegant and chic with a modern-classic look, the Henry is a 34-room Liberation style boutique hotel set in a private compound in FB Harison, a place that seems to be untouched by time. It is a brainchild of hotelier-entrepreneur Henry “Hanky” Lee, who led the restoration of five 1950 two-storey heritage building and residential houses that was owned by a wealthy Chinese immigrant family. He got help from his friend Eric Paras, a renowned furniture maker, in designing the rooms and the old building. The hotel, which is a rare find nowadays in a bustling and chaotic city, charms guests with its architectural grandeur, art, history and quirky character. It’s like stepping into the 1940s of post war Manila, except that there’s air-conditioning, wi-fi and cable TV.

 

The reception area is located in the main building known as the White House. Guests are greeted and assisted warmly by people clad in white polo, black bow tie, and black-rimmed wide pair of glasses minus the lenses. They look nerdy yet sophisticated.

 

Just across the White House are four dark-painted houses enclosed by plants and interconnected by a long covered corridor. The colourful and intricately designed Spanish baldosa tiles and original hardwood floors and stairs have been gloriously retained from the pre-renovated houses, giving an old-colonial feel.

 

The spacious and cozy Suite Room has one attractive queen-size bed with amenities that include an ante-room, two LCD TVs, mini-bar, and bath tub and shower. The room evokes a feeling of nostalgia but at the same time provides the necessary comfort every guests need.

 

Stand-out furniture and stuff in the room are the geometric lighting design, red rattan arm chair, and an artwork of what looks like a hyena saying “Hold my hand and I will name your children”. I also love hotel freebies particularly the cute bedroom slippers marked “right” and “wrong” and the complimentary coffee ground coffee with a note that says “Morning are bullies. Fight back.”

 

The Henry teamed up with Chef Marivic Diaz-Lim's Apartment 1B, which serves as the in-house restaurant of the hotel. The restaurant has an indoor and outdoor seating, and constantly plays nice and relaxing French music. It serves the most delectable gourmet food such as Big Breakfast (an assortment of ham, bacon, sausage, eggs, wheat bread, French fries and green salad), spaghetti vongole loaded with Manila clams, and apple crisp with ice cream.

If Batanes has its famous Honesty Store and Café, well Henry has its own The Honest Henry. It is a tiny retail store for souvenirs, bags and trinkets by Gifts and Graces. The hotel has this “Honesty is the best policy” rule and trusts its guests to be honest in paying for the merchandise they will be buying even though the store is unmanned.

 

For the art lovers and connoisseurs, they will surely enjoy visiting the other neighbouring houses of The Henry, as much as I did. Notably, the compound is a dwelling place of some creative souls in the country.

The Fashion Atelier of Paris-trained couturier Jojie Lloren, serves as his second home and workshop space.

Run by visual artist and curator Albert Avellana, the Avellana Art Gallery features antiques, paintings and sculptures and organizes printmaking competitions. Its entrance is guarded by Pidge Reyes’ “My Garden Angel” sculpture. It also has an artsy gate made from recycled bottles. AA is considered as one of the top retro-modern galleries in Manila and is known for exhibiting and supporting works of new and up-coming local artists.

 

Eric Paras’ furniture gallery and showroom, the Artellano 11 is a not-so mainstream shopping destination for art and design enthusiasts, even homemakers. Sarah Jessica Parker even dropped by A-11 to shop for some furniture when she visited Manila in 2013. What I found fascinating among the displays is the wall of decorative ceramic plates - such a masterpiece of kitchen art.

What sets Henry apart from other boutique hotels in Manila is its open, wide space and sprawling garden, designed by no less than National Artist for Landscape Architecture Ildefonso Santos. Among the carefully selected tree and plants in the garden are acacia, caballero, Japanese bamboo, millionaire’s vine, kalachuchi, santan, palmera, lantana and sampaguita. Some rustic wooden beaded chandeliers are hanging from trees. A small fountain also adorns the driveway.

 

There are picnic mats available for those who want to sunbathe, laze under the shade or perhaps play around with the resident cats.

And since Manila could sizzle as high as 37 degrees Celsius, guests could take a dip and refresh in the hotel’s kidney-shaped pool surrounded by lush greenery.

 

Truly exemplary for providing unique and relaxing escape especially for the city warriors, and for its implementation of “adaptive reuse”, The Henry is aptly branded as a hotel like no other. An urban oasis that blends old and new, hip and classic, modern and vintage. Vintage means pre-loved. It only tells us why sometimes letting go is beautiful and necessary.

  

The Henry Hotel Manila

2680 FB Harrison St.

Pasay City

Tel. No.: 807-8888