Detached Quarters of Chogan Head House of the Yecheon Gwon Clan

This building is said to have been built by Gwon O-sang, grandfather of the mid-Joseon scholar-official Gwon Mun-hae, pen name Chogan (1534–1591). It measures four bays across the front and two bays in depth, with a hipped-and-gabled roof, shaped like the Chinese character 八 when seen from the side. Viewed from the front, the right three bays form a wooden-floored hall and the left one bay is a heated room, itself divided in two. The front of the hall is open without doors, but the sides and rear have two-leaf plank doors, and a balustrade runs around the building, giving it the appearance of a pavilion. The exterior is generally plain, but the interior is finished with an intricate and lavish arrangement of decorative materials around the ceiling. In the library behind the detached quarters are preserved 677 woodblocks of the Daedong Unbu Gunok, a rhyme-classified encyclopaedia compiled by Gwon Mun-hae, a jade flute handed down through fourteen generations, and a complete 120-volume set of the Zizhi Tongjian Gangmu. It is a rare example among ordinary house architecture for the skill with which its interior is decorated, and stands as an outstanding example of Joseon-period detached-pavilion architecture.

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Where it is

Region

Yecheon, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Treasure · 보물