What’s your Legacy?

Whoever said that "understanding space is the first step towards transforming it" had it so right.
In this age of designer spaces, of a million and one choices in styles, the biggest luxury when it comes to shelter is still space itself.

To this end, The Legacy at Montgomery Place transforms three of its offerings into cozy homes with designers Marion Coscoluella, Ivy and Cynthia Almario, and J. Anton Mendoza. The results are stunning contemporary dwellings with touches of Asian, textured spaces, form and function, efficient furnishings, and above all, livable spaces that invite company. They’re not designed for the sake of design, but rather hints of what your life might be at The Legacy – how the kids can have fun in their own bedrooms, how the parents can have their own private space in the master’s bedroom, how the lady of the house can enjoy her walk-in closet, how the family can bond in the media room.

The model units are so well-crafted that when they were put up in June 2004, they were snapped up – lock, stock and barrel, and flatware, too – by buyers before the year ended. Of course, the buyers will have to wait while the units are still up for viewing!

The lot sizes of the single-detached houses to The Legacy go from 153 square meters to 241, but with the design of Architecture Network, the houses seem so much bigger.

The Delmar has a floor area of 206 sq.m.; the Fayette, 231 sq.m.; Livingston, 257 sq.m.; and the Pelham Quadruplex, 180 sq.m. All have four bedrooms each with a walk-in closet in the master suite, three toilets and baths, utility area, maid’s room with toilet and bath, and a complete kitchen with modular cabinets.

Of the 71 units in The Legacy, all are single detached with the exception of 12 townhouses designed as three sets of quadruplex units which, from the outside, look like a huge house.

The single-detached houses have two full levels with the ground floor as a split-level. This proves to be a great way to save space. A foyer greets visitors upon entry, and up a few steps is the living room. Another set of steps leads to the dining room. Up the stairs are the bedrooms. The garage, with its own garage door, can accommodate two to three cars.

Of course, this comes with a price tag that only the affluent can afford. ALP locates its subdivisions in places that acquire astonishing value over time, which in this case is Quezon City along E. Rodriguez Ave. – a stone’s throw away from New Manila and major arteries that can take you to QC, Manila, San Juan, and Makati faster than you might think.

Montgomery Place being a townhouse community, ALP branded this last phase differently because it offers more premium packages in terms of unit type with its single-detached units and quadruplexes. The Legacy follows the American South inspiration of the entire development with the house facades painted in colors that range from wheat to tan, ivory, slate, blue and ash.

"The good thing about the design theme is that it’s very suitable for our climate," says ALP project manager Jose Juan Jugo "It’s fresh, it’s open, it’s cool, it uses light materials. We made a conscious effort to do something different."

While more and more people are choosing to live in condominiums to make their lives easier with regard to work, play and home, The Legacy at Montgomery Place gently reminds you of why other people won’t. Sure, you get a view of the skyline in a condo (or of rooftops if you’re in the lower floors), but with a house, you get your own garage, your own balconies (yes, most bedrooms in these units have a balcony, albeit small but a balcony all the same), a porch on the side, walking spaces, amenities such as a swimming pool, clubhouse, pavilion, and gardens. All this with the security and hassle-free services and maintenance that come with a gated community. That feeling of having your feet on the ground – literally – and a land title is so much more important to many people than saving time on the daily commute to work.

There may be no accounting for taste in fashion or movies, but when it comes to choosing their homes, people always know what they want – and the lucky ones get to live it every day.