Gwapilheon Hall, Cheongju

The old house of Gwapilheon in Cheongju is a traditional hanok built in Nangseong-myeon, Sangdang-gu, Cheongju, by Sin Hu (申逅, 1708–1779), who went by the pen name Gwapilheon, in the late Joseon period. It is a south-facing house set before a low hill, with broad paddy and dry fields spreading out in front. At the entrance to the old house stands the sarangchae (men's quarters), behind which the haengnangchae (servants' quarters) and anchae (women's quarters) are arranged together to form a single compound. A building newly added to the east, between the anchae and the haengnangchae, was built for daily living, giving the whole complex a roughly square (□-shaped) layout. The sarangchae at the front has a straight (一-shaped) plan of six bays across the front and two bays deep. It is centred on a two-bay sarang-daecheong (reception hall) floored with square-patterned wooden flooring, with a two-bay sarangbang (reception room) and a one-bay kitchen to the right, and a one-bay side reception room to the left. It stands on a natural-stone platform with large, roughly dressed foundation stones and square columns, topped with a mindori-style bracket system; the frame is a five-purlin structure, and the roof is a single-eave hip-and-gable (paljak) roof. Rounding the left side of the sarangchae brings one to the haengnangchae, which has a front of five bays and a depth of one bay. Its plan is centred on a one-bay central gate, with three bays to the left and one bay to the right, each walled with plank panels and used entirely as storerooms. It too stands on a natural-stone platform with roughly set foundation stones and square columns, and its roof is a single-eave hipped (ujingak) roof. It is said to have been used to store a palanquin, and still retains traditional timber-working techniques: the roof battens (san-ja) were woven from straw rope and then plastered with mud, a finish that survives intact. Through the central gate stands the anchae, relatively large at six bays across the front and two bays deep, with an L-shaped (ㄱ-shaped) plan. It is centred on a wide, two-bay continuous daecheong; to its right is a two-bay anbang (main room) fronted by a narrow deck (toenmaru), followed by a one-bay kitchen, while to the left of the daecheong is a two-bay side room. It stands on a natural-stone platform with roughly set foundation stones and square columns built up in the mindori style. The frame is a five-purlin structure; the roof has a single eave, with the main block under a hip-and-gable roof and the wings under gable ends, though it is said that the whole roof was originally of the hip-and-gable type. The old house of Gwapilheon in Cheongju displays the characteristics of traditional residential architecture of this region.

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Where it is

Region

Cheongju, Chungbuk

Designation

Provincial Folklore Heritage · 시도민속문화유산