A House of Nostalgia, Jo Deok-su’s Historic House

Hunkered down in the hills behind the village, the gates are wide open today. Anyone coming and going is invited to take a look around the house. Jo Deok-su's house is a 40-pyeong wooden house that stands out for its harmony with the surrounding nature.

- Designation: National Folk Cultural Property (Jan. 14, 1984)

The house is a private residence in the inland region of Central Korea, located at the foot of a shallow mountain (Guksubong Peak) at 200 meters above sea level in Sangdeokcheon-ri, where the Namhangang River meanders, and is said to have been built around 1770 by Jo Deok-su, the sixth generation of the Jo family. The building follows the Jungbu style, with a kitchen, master bedroom, great hall, and cross room in the main house, and a barn, gate, and gate in the outbuilding. It is unusual to have an outer-wing room next to the kitchen, which is different from the regional style. The overall layout of the house is in the form of a square, centered on the corner-shaped main house, with the haengrangchae in front of it. The ondol room in the main house was restored in 2000. In the southeast-facing main house, a sarangbang is centered on a two-compartment large floor, a master bedroom is located on the east side, and a cauldron is hung on the stove in the sarangbang. Behind the master bedroom, a parlor was built to connect to the kitchen, a closet separated the master bedroom from the kitchen, and an attic was built above the kitchen. The skeleton of the building is simple, consisting of a daedeulbo (crossbeam) on pillars and a pandaegong (board truss post) supporting a jongdori (ridge beam), and it can be seen as a private house that shows the living conditions of middle-class farmers in the area.