Bukchon Hanok Village

Bukchon is a representative traditional residential area in Seoul, located between Gyeongbokgung Palace, Changdeokgung Palace, and Jongmyo Shrine, densely packed with traditional hanok houses. It is also called a street museum in the city center due to its many historic sites, cultural properties, and folk materials. It was named 'Bukchon (North Village)' because it is the neighborhood above Cheonggyecheon Stream and Jongno, and includes Gahoe-dong, Songhyeon-dong, Anguk-dong, and Samcheong-dong. Sagan-dong, Gye-dong, Sogyeok-dong, and Jae-dong retain traces of history in their neighborhood names, having preserved them for hundreds of years.

Bukchon was a residential area for the yangban (noble class) established during the Joseon Dynasty, and it saw little change until the 1920s. However, in the 1930s, as Seoul's administrative districts expanded and the urban structure modernized, changes occurred. Housing management companies purchased large plots and forested areas in Bukchon and collectively built medium- and small-sized hanok houses there. The hanok residential areas currently concentrated in Gahoe-dong 11beonji and 31beonji, Samcheong-dong 35beonji, and Gye-dong 135beonji were all formed during this period. It is noteworthy that Bukchon's hanok, which used new materials such as glass doors on the daecheong (main hall) and attached galvanized iron eaves, evolved into a new urban housing type by adapting to modern urban organization while not losing the typological characteristics of traditional hanok.