Seobyeok House

Sin Han-chang (1669-1749), the twenty-seventh-generation descendant of the Pyeongsan Sin clan, is said to have built this house in 1739 when he set up a branch household separate from the clan's head house. It was then five kan in scale, but Chi-gu (1777-1851), a thirty-first-generation descendant, later enlarged and extended it, naming the house Seobyeok after his own pen name. In plan the house has a front of five kan and a side of four kan, forming a courtyard-shaped (square, or 'gu-ja') layout with one further kan added on each side at the front, making it a so-called 'wing house.' The sarang, or men's quarters, occupies the western side, centred on the middle-gate bay. It consists of two ondol (heated-floor) rooms and a three-kan wooden-floored hall (maru), and includes a room for mourning rites (bincho-bang) that can be reached from the west wing through the connecting rooms. A small shrine niche (gamsil) is set into the upper rear of the maru, and a narrow wooden veranda (toenmaru) runs along the front of the maru and the adjoining ondol room to allow easy access. Although the house shares its overall form with a clan head house, it still preserves many features from the time of its construction, including its storerooms and valuables store, and the early construction methods used for its windows, doors and joinery.

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Where it is

Region

Cheongsong, Gyeongbuk

Designation

National Folklore Heritage · 국가민속문화유산