Kim Gi-hyeon’s House, Yeongdong

This house is said to have been built in the late seventeenth century, though today only the anchae and an ansarangchae in the form of a detached annexe survive. It is thought that the anchae was built in the mid-eighteenth century, and the ansarangchae much later, in the mid-nineteenth century. The anchae stands with a dense grove of hackberry trees behind it, and the ansarangchae is set at a right angle in front of it; walls run all the way round, front, back and sides, marking off a separate space, with a small side gate connecting it to the sarang yard. The anchae has the ㄷ-shaped plan common to the houses of the sadaebu (scholar-official class), following the southern-style arrangement in which the kitchen, main room and daecheong hall are set in a straight line. In the wings on either side, a tteuraetbang (yard-side lower room) stands beside the kitchen, and a chanbang (pantry room), an upper room and a lower room stand beside the daecheong. The chanbang is a somewhat unusual space, sometimes made instead in a small room behind the main room, but always positioned alongside the daecheong; its main function was to store and distribute food, though it also served various other purposes, such as storing goods or providing the women of the house with a place to rest in summer. Toenmaru verandas run along both the front and back, linking the main room all the way to the lower room in the right-hand wing. One unusual feature is the roofing of the two wings: the roof on the left is a matbae (gabled) roof, its gable end shaped like the character 人 ("person"), while the roof on the right is a paljak (hipped-and-gabled) roof, shaped like the character 八 ("eight"). It is an interesting structure precisely because the left and right sides are not symmetrical. The ansarangchae, meaning a sarangchae used within the women's quarters, is unusually turned to face a different direction from the original sarangchae, of which only the stone steps survive as a trace opposite the anchae. It likewise follows the southern style: a 一-shaped building with the daecheong, upper room, main room, kitchen and corner room arranged in a row, all linked by toenmaru and side verandas. Overall it is a building of excellent decorative craftsmanship. At the time of its designation the name was "Yeongdong Kim Seon-jo's House", but this was changed on 29 January 2007 to "Kim Gi-hyeon's House, Yeongdong", reflecting that Kim Gi-hyeon, an ancestor five generations above the present owner, had served as vice-minister of the Board of Rites before retiring to the countryside, buying the house and moving in. This heritage site is generally open to visitors, but access may be restricted at times due to the personal circumstances of the owner or others.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yeongdong, Chungbuk

Designation

National Folklore Heritage · 국가민속문화유산