Icheon Bo Old House

This is the house where Yi Cheonbo (pen name Jinam, 1698–1761), who served as chief state councillor under King Yeongjo, once lived. Yi Cheonbo was regarded in his day as one of the finest literary stylists, and in recognition of his loyalty to Crown Prince Sado he was posthumously designated a bulcheonwi — a figure whose spirit tablet is never buried but is enshrined and given ancestral rites in perpetuity. The house stands at the foot of Seorisan Mountain, one of the ridges of Hyeondeungsan Mountain. With a mountain enclosing it like a folding screen at the rear and the clear waters of Sangdongcheon Stream flowing in front, it occupies a classic auspicious site with mountains behind and water before it. All the buildings dating from the time of construction have since been lost. The sarangchae (men's quarters) was rebuilt in 1867, the fourth year of Emperor Gojong, and the haengnangchae (servants' quarters), which had stood outside the present wall, was moved to its current location in 1975 after it collapsed, being rebuilt one bay larger in the process. The anchae (women's quarters) is presumed to have burned down during the Korean War. The stylobate and cornerstones of the house date from the seventeenth century, while the buildings themselves display the construction techniques of the nineteenth century. Unlike the floor plan typically seen in the Gyeonggi region, the sarangchae follows the old style and is built in a straight, single-row line; the roof above the raised wooden floor (numaru) section is a hipped-and-gabled paljak roof, while that above the kitchen is a gabled matbae roof, the two differing from each other. The doors and windows fitted to the daecheong (wooden-floored hall) and the interior can be opened or closed by sliding or by lifting and hooking, allowing the space to be used flexibly as needed. Behind the sarangchae stands a Chinese juniper said to have been planted by an ancestor of the family, and to the right of the old house are a grave and stone furnishings relocated from Gimpo in 1975.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gapyeong, Gyeonggi

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료