Seobyeok Historic House

About this place

※ Please note before visiting: due to a wildfire in March 2025, part of the building was destroyed. The Seobyeok Historic House is said to have been built in 1739 by Sin Han-chang (1669–1749), a 27th-generation descendant of the Pyeongsan Sin clan, when he set up a separate household from the head family house. At the time it was five kan in size, but when Chigu (1777–1851), a 31st-generation descendant, expanded and enlarged it, he is said to have used his pen name, Seobyeok, as the name of the house. In plan it is a 'wing house' with a 'gu'-shaped (ㄱ) layout of five kan in front and four on the side, to which one kan was added on each side of only the front section. Centered on the middle-gate bay, the sarang (men's quarters) space is placed on the west side. It consists of a two-kan ondol (heated) room and a one-kan wooden-floored room—three kan in all—while a mortuary room (binso), which can be connected to the room from the west wing, is also located here. The wooden-floored room has a shrine niche in the upper rear, and a toenmaru (narrow veranda) was placed in front of the wooden-floored room and one kan of the ondol room to ease movement. While it has a house form similar to that of a head family house, it well preserves early features such as the storeroom and heritage store, the window-and-door composition, and the joinery techniques—the planning methods of the time of construction.