The American Oriental Engineering and Construction Company (1910s)
The American Oriental Engineering and Construction Company was a building products supplier of sorts founded in Seoul in the earlyContinue Reading
Early Modern Architecture in Korea
The American Oriental Engineering and Construction Company was a building products supplier of sorts founded in Seoul in the earlyContinue Reading
By the 1920s, Korea’s urban spaces had become aesthetically diverse. Remaining buildings typified by nineteenth century East Asian open-port architecture,Continue Reading
In certain academic and religious circles, architect Henry Bauld Gordon (1854-1951) has been recognized as having a noteworthy role inContinue Reading
Explore the literal rise and fall of the Presbyterian mission’s first modern hospital building at Daegu in Volume 94 ofContinue Reading
When American collegiate architectural design arrived in Korea in the 1910s, architecture built according to actual Western construction methods hadContinue Reading
One of the earliest references to Korea getting a modern, dedicated association building was printed in an annual report forContinue Reading
At the turn of the twentieth century, Seoul was filled with a variety of contractors and craftsmen from abroad. TheContinue Reading
UPDATE – October 12, 2019: This essay is now better described as a collaborative text, having been updated with contentContinue Reading
Land and property ownership in Korea between the 1880s-1900s was somewhat chaotic. Due in part to locals’ unpreparedness, the situationContinue Reading
Explore the origins of Seoul’s most iconic religious structure in Volume 93 of Transactions, published this year by the Royal AsiaticContinue Reading
The Westernization of Korean buildings in the late nineteenth century was not a planned stylistic shift, nor was it anContinue Reading
Almost a decade after Charles M. Dyce characterized the compradoric style of Chinese open ports, a Japanese art critic coinedContinue Reading
Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, the building and infrastructural demands of Western merchants on the Bund at Shanghai gave riseContinue Reading
Early modern architecture in Japan went through a series of distinct phases. One of these phases was a certain kindContinue Reading
The Imperial Crown Style was a genre of Japanese modernist architecture generally found in 1930s-1940s government buildings. It appears toContinue Reading
Once called “the Ritz Hotel of the Far East”,1 the Chosen Hotel was, for a time, the last word inContinue Reading
Before the rise of reinforced concrete, brick was the heart and soul of many an early modern building in Korea.Continue Reading
The period of Japanese imperialism was one of architectural experimentation. As architects came to find out, some of the WesternContinue Reading
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, which came during the colonial period, is an extremely understudied topic. Some are of theContinue Reading
The birth of Korea’s railways has been commented on by a number of Westerners living in Korea, including missionary doctorContinue Reading