Eclectic-style House in Daeheung-dong, Daejeon

This building is a residential structure built around 1929. It is known to have served as the official residence of the director of the Daejeon Railway Bureau during the Japanese colonial period, and was later used for a time as military housing before being relocated to its present nearby site, where it now serves as a cooperative office. Having been built during the Japanese colonial period as railway staff housing — part of the infrastructure for Japan's exploitation of Korea — the building retains a foundation stone inscribed with the record "昭和四年五月 定礎 渡辺" (Shōwa 4, May [1929], cornerstone laid, Watanabe), bearing witness to the painful history of Japan's exploitation of Korea. As a two-storey wooden building, its roof — which largely determines the building's exterior character — takes the form of a gable roof, but the roof over the circular projecting living room is finished in a conical shape, creating a distinctive effect that has led locals to commonly call it the "pointed house". The second floor contains a Japanese-style tatami room and a tokonoma (a recessed alcove for displaying art or flowers), and the hall and living-room spaces are kept separate, showing the eclectic character of a building that combines Japanese and Western styles.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Jung-gu, Daejeon

Designation

Registered Cultural Heritage · 국가등록문화유산