Building the Seoul YMCA (1900s-1910s)
One of the earliest references to Korea getting a modern, dedicated association building was printed in an annual report forContinue Reading
Category: Articles
The Life and Times of Harry Chang: Builders in Early Modern Korea (1880s-1910s)
At the turn of the twentieth century, Seoul was filled with a variety of contractors and craftsmen from abroad. TheContinue Reading
Auguste Joseph Salabelle: Gojong’s Little-Known French Architect (1888-1891)
UPDATE – October 12, 2019: This essay is now better described as a collaborative text, having been updated with contentContinue Reading
Real Estate in Early Modern Korea (1884-1910)
Land and property ownership in Korea between the 1880s-1900s was somewhat chaotic. Due in part to locals’ unpreparedness, the situationContinue Reading
The Architectural Roots of Myeongdong Cathedral
Explore the origins of Seoul’s most iconic religious structure in Volume 93 of Transactions, published this year by the Royal AsiaticContinue Reading
Modifying Joseon Architecture (1884-1905)
The Westernization of Korean buildings in the late nineteenth century was not a planned stylistic shift, nor was it anContinue Reading
The Influence of Giyōfū Architecture and 19th Century Japan on Early Modern Korea
Almost a decade after Charles M. Dyce characterized the compradoric style of Chinese open ports, a Japanese art critic coinedContinue Reading
The Compradoric Style: Chinese Architectural Influence on Early Modern Korea
Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, the building and infrastructural demands of Western merchants on the Bund at Shanghai gave riseContinue Reading
Tatsuno Kingo: The Face of an Empire
Early modern architecture in Japan went through a series of distinct phases. One of these phases was a certain kindContinue Reading
Traces of the Imperial Crown Style in Colonial Korea
The Imperial Crown Style was a genre of Japanese modernist architecture generally found in 1930s-1940s government buildings. It appears toContinue Reading
The Chosun Hotel
Once called “the Ritz Hotel of the Far East”,1 the Chosen Hotel was, for a time, the last word inContinue Reading
Early Modern Brick and the Perforated Qing Cross
Before the rise of reinforced concrete, brick was the heart and soul of many an early modern building in Korea.Continue Reading
The Comfort, Construction, and Social Views of Common Homes in Colonial Korea
The period of Japanese imperialism was one of architectural experimentation. As architects came to find out, some of the WesternContinue Reading
Hanok in Japan, Korean Architecture Abroad
Over the course of Korea’s colonization, the construction of thousands of machiya and other Japanese clapboard buildings altered Korea’s traditionalContinue Reading
Art Deco Architecture in Korea
Art Deco architecture in Korea, which came during the colonial period, is an extremely understudied topic. Some are of theContinue Reading
Railway Quarters
The birth of Korea’s railways has been commented on by a number of Westerners living in Korea, including missionary doctorContinue Reading
