Seongcheondaek House, Cheongsong

The exact date of construction is unknown, but the house is presumed to have been built around the 18th century. The village, at the foot of a mountain ridge, is encircled by the Yongjeoncheon Stream; while most houses in the village face east towards the stream, this house stands on higher ground to the west of the village, with its gate set facing the road to the south. The most distinctive feature of this house lies in its unusual floor plan. Overall it follows the closed, square (ㅁ-shaped) form common in mountainous regions, but whereas most ㅁ-shaped houses place the wooden-floored hall at the centre of the main house section facing the gate, with the main room and side room on either side, this house instead places a two-bay hall in the left wing of the main house section. The likely reason for this arrangement is that, while the main house and men's quarters were oriented south to secure sunlight, the view to the east, overlooking the river, was far superior, and so the hall was placed in the left wing, between the main house and men's quarters sections, to take advantage of it. As a result, unlike typical ㅁ-shaped houses in which the women's and men's domains are strictly separated into independent spaces, in this house the hall serves as a link that would have made movement between the two domains very easy. Seongcheondaek occupies a small space of five bays across the front and four bays to the side, yet fits in a sarang room, a main room, a kitchen and even a cattle shed. As with the double-row houses seen in mountainous areas of Gangwon and North Gyeongsang, the cold winters and the constant threat of wild animals meant that everything had to be brought inside the house. It is small for a ㅁ-shaped house, with a very narrow front yard; looking up, the eaves of the roof encircle the yard on every side, leaving only a small patch of sky through which to breathe. The house is regarded as an example of a modest yet well-organised dwelling built on a minimal scale without disturbing the ㅁ-shaped form, and as one of the various types of North Gyeongsang tteuljip (a courtyard house with an inner yard forming an overall ㅁ shape), it shares features with the nine-bay ttoarijip (a house whose parts are linked without any open side, like a horseshoe, into a ㅁ shape, also called a horseshoe house) of southern Gangwon, making it valuable material for the study of vernacular houses. Please note that while this heritage site is generally open to visitors, access may be restricted due to the personal circumstances of the owner.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Cheongsong, Gyeongbuk

Designation

National Folklore Heritage · 국가민속문화유산