Yun Po-sun’s House in Anguk-dong

This is the house where former President Yun Po-sun lived; it was built in 1870, the seventh year of Emperor Gojong, and was purchased around 1910 by Yun Po-sun's father, Yun Chi-so. Yun Po-sun began living here at around the age of seven or eight, and even while serving as president he conducted his official duties from this house rather than from Cheongwadae, the Blue House. After 1910, Bak Yeong-hyo also stayed here briefly after returning from Japan. As an upper-class house in Seoul, it stands on a relatively large plot and includes an outer sarangchae (men's quarters), an inner sarangchae, an anchae (women's quarters), a gate with attached servants' quarters, and storehouses. Each building looks like a traditional Korean house in outward form, but in its details it shows the style of the late Qing dynasty of China. This reflects Chinese-style elements that Yun Po-sun observed and absorbed in China during the days of the Provisional Government in Shanghai, and shows the characteristics of the period when he lived there. The interior decoration and furniture were based on what he had experienced in China, Britain and elsewhere; although Western-style furniture, it was improved with new designs that incorporated traditional techniques for greater practicality in daily life. The signboard of the outer sarangchae, Namcheongheon, is thought to have been written by King Sunjo, and a signboard reading "Jinchung Boguk" (盡忠報國, "serve the country with utmost loyalty"), written by Kim Ok-gyun, is also hung there; each building bears signboards written either by royal hand or by well-known figures. In the rear garden of the sarangchae there is a pond, planted with plum trees, junipers and various other trees; although this is not traditional landscaping, it shows one aspect of the modern landscaping newly created in the late nineteenth century. The house was also the birthplace of the Korea Democratic Party, the Republic of Korea's first democratic political party; it was used as the office and meeting room of opposition parties in the 1950s–1970s, and also served as a headquarters and refuge for the democratic movement, making it a place of great significance in Korea's political history. As a yangban house of some 140 years' standing, with a timber structure and tiled roof built in the traditional manner while its detailed decoration and furnishings pursued convenience in daily life, this house allows one to trace the grandeur of a powerful late-Joseon family and the changing course of architectural style and domestic life, giving it important value in the cultural history of architecture. It also holds significance in political history as the place that served as the birthplace of Korea's first democratic political party.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Jongno-gu, Seoul

Designation

Historic Site · 사적