House in Gyeongun-dong

This is a gaeryang hanok, an 'improved' Korean-style house, believed to have been built in the 1930s; it is said to have been designed by Bak Gil-yong (1898-1943), a leading architect of the Japanese colonial period. It shares the same floor plan as the Jeong Sun-ju House, which stood at 66-8 Gyeongun-dong and which corresponds to the rear wing of this house. It is said that the original owner built the two houses so that he could give one to each of his two sons. The gate stands on the east side of the square plot, and passing through the front yard one finds a south-facing, H-shaped building. Along the central axis are a kitchen, a daecheong (wooden-floored hall), a geonneonbang (room across the hall) and a sarangbang (reception room); in front of the kitchen is the anbang (main room), and behind it a rear room. A half-kan-wide toenmaru, a narrow wooden veranda, links the circulation between the rooms. In front of the sarangbang is a numaru (raised wooden floor), and behind it an entrance-hall floor. The geonneonbang is fitted out as a fairly large room that functions as a sarangbang, while the sarangbang connected to the entrance-hall floor appears to have been designed for use as a reception room. A small flower bed has been laid out beneath the wall on the south side of the yard. The placement of the entrance, toilet and bathroom inside the house, linked by a long corridor, together with the fitting of glass windows, are characteristic features of the improved hanok of this period, and the house is an important resource for understanding the evolution of Korean housing.

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Where it is

Region

Jongno-gu, Seoul

Designation

Provincial Folklore Heritage · 시도민속문화유산