Hong Geonik House in Pirun-dong

About this place

The Hong Geonik House in Pirun-dong consists of five wooden tile-roofed buildings, a corner gate in the rear garden, and a circular stone well. Though the property was traditionally said to have been the residence of Yi Hang-bok (pen name Baeksa, 1556–1618), historical research suggests that the existing buildings on this lot were demolished and the current ones newly constructed between 1934 and 1936 by Hong Geonik. Before Hong Geonik built the current house, the site (totaling 467 pyeong) was home to Go Yeong-ju (1839–), a reformist thinker of interpreter (yeokgwan) origin, and Sim Jae-hong, a grandson of Han Gyu-seol — the State Council Minister who staunchly opposed the Eulsa Treaty. In 1934, Hong Geonik purchased the land and erected the current buildings by 1936. The house is arranged on a narrow hillside lot divided into tiers, with the entrance gate, servants' quarters, reception hall, inner gate, main quarters, and annex placed in order from front to back. (Source: Cultural Heritage Administration)