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Deagu: Korea’s Other Hanok City

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<Essay> Exploring Old Things

Deagu: Korea’s Other Hanok City

By Robert Fouser




Years ago, when I asked some students of mine about interesting things to see in Daegu, and they responded with polite laughs. When I asked again, most said that they could not think of anything in particular; a few said that Dongseongno in downtown was like Myeong-dong in Seoul. After getting home that day, I began to search for things to do in Daegu and a found some information on historic alley walks in historic center of town.

After that semester ended, I decided to make a short trip to Daegu and Gyeongju to celebrate. It was late June and both places were hot and muggy, but Daegu was especially so. The historic alley walks intrigued me, and I decided to do them, despite the heat. Each walk was full of discoveries, but the biggest discovery of all was the number of hanoks in Daegu. I was living in Bukchon at the time and was active in preservation efforts in neighboring Seochon. I had also been to Jeonju several times and had followed the development of the Hanok Village there from afar. But Daegu? I had never heard of hanoks in Daegu but was pleased to find them.


Hanok in Daegu and different from Seoul and Jeonju. Many hanoks in Seoul and Jeonju were built as part of hanok developments in the 1930s, so they are concentrated in particular neighborhoods. In Daegu, by contrast, most hanoks were built on existing lots on winding alleys. Seochon in Seoul has only a few small hanok development, and many of the hanok-lined alleys in Deagu feel similar to Seochon. Like Jeonju, Daegu is further south and has a warmer climate. Most hanoks in Daegu have a larger courtyard and have a more open layout than the hanoks in Seoul, which helps ventilate them during the long, hot summer. Another significant difference is that efforts to preserve hanok neighborhoods in Seoul and Jeonju go back to the late 1970s and early 1980s, whereas discussions about preservation began only in the 2010s.

The exact number of hanoks is difficult to determine, but most estimates indicate that Daegu has the largest number of hanoks after Seoul. As elsewhere, most hanoks in Daegu are concentrated in the historic center of the city. During the Joseon Period (1392-1910), Daegu was an important administrative center and like other important cities at the time, it had a wall around it. In the early years of the Japanese Colonial Period (1910-1945), the wall was destroyed, and rapid industrialization and urbanization caused the city to grow rapidly. The Japanese commercial area centered on Bukseongno and areas near Daegu Station and Korean commercial activities were concentrated further south around the Herbal Medicine Market. Most of the remaining hanoks in Daegu can be found the southwestern quarter of the historic city center and nearby areas to the south and west. After liberation from Japanese rule, construction of hanoks throughout the city continued until the mid-1960s when government policy began to promote the construction of apartment complexes.

The Yi Sang-hwa House, a nationalist poet who resisted Japanese colonial rule, is a good place to start to learn about hanoks in Daegu. Though larger than the average hanok in Daegu, the house has a large courtyard and open layout. The main quarters of house face south and they are long and straight, which allows the sun to warm the house in winter and breezes to cool it in summer. The glass window doors of the house fit the period and offer a contrast to many hanoks in Bukchon that have newly built window doors in traditional Joseon-period style.

A short walk away on Cheongna Hill are three missionary houses that are interesting examples of Western-style houses with hanok touches. The Switzer House, in particular, uses hanok roof tiles. The Namsan-dong area to the south of Cheongna Hill and east toward the Daegu Hyanggyo Confucian Academy has a large number of smaller hanoks along narrow alleys. Though small, many of the houses has courtyards that are large enough to support trees and bushes. Much of the area is slated for redevelopment into apartment complexes and many of the hanoks have fallen into disrepair. Abandoned houses have been torn down to make way for parking lots and community vegetable gardens.

To the east of Namsan-dong is Daebong-dong, which is an eclectic mix of apartments, hanoks, and a few remaining Japanese-style houses. The Moga café is a wonderful example of a typical Daegu-style hanok that retains most of its original features such as frosted designs on the windows. The house sits toward the back of the lot with a large courtyard facing the entrance to the alley, which gives it an open feeling. The area nearby has become famous for the Kim Gwang-seok Street, named after Kim Gwang-seok (1964-1996) a popular singer in the 1980s and 1990s, and many other hanoks in the area have been converted into cafés and bars.


  


One of the most interesting hanoks in Daegu is the Im Jae-yang Clinic in nearby Samdeok-dong. The clinic is made up of a hanok and a Japanese-style house that have been recently restored. Like the Yi Sang-hwa House, the hanok is long and straight and opens onto a large courtyard that sits between the two building. Hanoks and Japanese-style houses co-exist in other parts of Daegu, but such examples are difficult to find in Seoul now. 

Perhaps the most interesting, if not the most curious, hanok in Daegu sits on the roof of Café Mu-a, a traditional Korean dessert café in the historic center of the city. The hanok is a subsidiary building of a large rural estate and was moved and rebuilt on the roof of the café. The hanok on the roof of Café Mu-a is an example of creative adaptation of a hanok to new uses. As in Seoul and Jeonju, hanoks in Daegu are being remodeled and adapted to various new uses. With its large stock of hanoks, Daegu stands to join Seoul and Jeonju and a leading destination for hanok lovers.