Sokcho Kim Geun-su House

The house faces south, set in the middle of a village encircled by low hills like a folding screen. It is an L-shaped gyeopjip (double-row house) of the Hamgyeong-do type, centred on ondol-heated rooms, four kan wide at the front and two kan deep at the side, with a wooden-floored room incorporated into the plan. Roof tiles bearing the inscriptions "the fifth year of Daoguang (1825)" and "the twenty-seventh year of Qianlong (1762)" have been found, though the exact date of construction is unknown. It has a single-eaved hipped-and-gabled tile roof and was home for generations to the Hampyeong Lee clan; thirty years ago the present owner purchased it and has lived there since, and the house is known as "Hoeryeong-daek" or "Bangagan-daek". In plan, the kitchen stands alongside a stable projecting from the main roofline; the front row contains two kan of raised wooden flooring and a sarangbang (men's quarters), while the rear row contains the main women's room, a lower room, and a rear reception room. The rear reception room has a wall cupboard enshrining a family shrine, and the wooden-floored area has a "kokul", a traditional fire-niche typical of houses in mountain regions. Originally it was a large house with a servants' quarters, a storehouse, and a men's quarters building standing in front of it, but it was reduced in scale around the time of Korea's 1945 liberation, and today only the main house remains. It is said to occupy an auspicious site in the shape of a "snake" according to feng shui, and the house is modestly enclosed by an inner wall and an outer wall.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Sokcho, Gangwon

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료