Building the Daegu Hospital (1903-1907): A Study on the Construction and Design of Early Western-Korean Hybrid Architecture

Explore the literal rise and fall of the Presbyterian mission’s first modern hospital building at Daegu in Volume 94 of Transactions, published this year (2020) by the Royal Asiatic Society, Korea Branch for the year 2019. Designed by Canadian architect Henry Bauld Gordon, the building only stood for a few years, slowly collapsing under the weight of its own roof, eventually dismantled and demolished. The written materials produced by the Presbyterian community on the matter offer significant information on the hospital’s construction, materiality, and design. Significant for being a Western-Korean hybrid structure, the case of the first Daegu Hospital shows the challenges of building modern (or semi-modern) structures in rural 1900s Korea.

Download the article by clicking the link below:
Building the Daegu Hospital (1903-1907): A Study on the Construction and Design of Early Western-Korean Hybrid Architecture

Note that this article is meant to be read in connection with “The Architecture of Henry Bauld Gordon in Korea (1899-1905)“.

While the article is available for download here on Colonial Korea, I encourage you to write directly to the RASKB and order a hardcopy of the latest volume of Transactions. Not only does it help support the organization, but journal articles cover a wide variety of interesting topics — written by a wide variety of interesting authors. The content for Volume 94 is as follows:

Three Generations of Poetic Dissent: Kim Jiha, Park Nohae, Song Kyung-dong – Brother Anthony

Your Memory, Our Memories – Park Jiwon

‘A Children’s Paradise’: Reforming Juvenile Incarceration under the US Military Government in Korea, 1945-48 – James D. Hillmer

Borrowed National Bodies: Ideological Conditioning and Idol-Logical Practices of K-Pop Cover Dance – CedarBough T. Saeji

Building the Daegu Hospital (1903-1907): A Study on the Construction and Design of Early Western-Korean Hybrid Architecture – Nate Kornegay

Re-centering Female Narratives through Murmurs and Song – Hilary Vanessa Finchum-Sung

Korean Wolves: The Princes of Darkness – Robert Neff

Minjokchonggyo: The Religions of the Nation – Yeonju Lee

‘Tell the World what is Happening’: The Americans who Witnessed the Kwangju Uprising – Matt VanVolkenburg

Photographing the People who Pray at Jeju Island’s Shamanic Shrines – Joey Rositano

Three Waves of Korean Punk Explored Through Compilation Albums – Jon Dunbar