Head House of the Uiseong Kim Clan, Andong

This is the head house of the Uiseong Kim clan. The present buildings are said to have been rebuilt by Kim Seong-il (1538–1593) after the original house burned down during the Japanese invasions of the 1590s. The complex is divided into a men's quarters, a women's quarters, and a servants' quarters. The men's quarters, where the master of the house lived and received guests, is four bays wide and two bays deep, forming a single straight wing. The women's quarters, where the mistress of the house lived and managed household affairs, forms a square, courtyard-enclosing plan, and unlike other houses its main room is set unusually high toward the outer side. The servants' quarters link the men's and women's quarters in an unusual arrangement, so that the whole house forms an S-shaped plan. However, there is no inner gate leading from the servants' quarters into the inner courtyard, so that outsiders could not pass through it — an arrangement reflecting the Confucian ideas of separation between men and women, and between inner and outer spheres, that prevailed at the time. The men's quarters can be entered directly through a separate gate, without passing through the main gate of the servants' quarters. The building linking the men's quarters and the servants' quarters has two storeys, the upper used as a study and the lower as a storeroom; such a two-storey structure is rarely seen in other houses. The hall gate at the western end, added at a later date, has a large roof that gives the whole house an imposing appearance. Though built in a simple style, the house has a rare structure and is valuable material for the study of Joseon-period vernacular house architecture.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Andong, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Treasure · 보물