The Marmot’s Hole

Seoul Waterworks

On Saturday, I paid a visit to the Ttukdo Water Service Museum, formally Seoul Waterworks, Korea’s first modern water treatment facility*.

The site is near Seoul Forest, about a 10-minute walk from Ttukseom Station, Exit 8. As you can see, my efforts were rewarded by… a historical site under restoration. Bummer.

The place is rather interesting, though. Seoul Waterworks was founded in 1907 by two American businessmen, railway specialist Henry Collbran and Harry R. Bostwick, Collbran and Bostwick also won concessions to build Seoul’s tram system, the city’s first commercial electricity system and the Seoul-Incheon railroad.

They were also, oddly enough, the first people to publicly screen movies in Korea.

The equipment used by the plant was imported from the United States and Great Britain. When it was completed, it provided drinking water to 32% of Seoul’s population, mostly people living in the Seodaemun and Yongsan areas.

The English sign reveals the facility’s American roots. Restoration work should be completed by late September — I’ll probably pay another visit then for better photographs.

* Technically speaking, the Tteoksu facility wasn’t Korea’s first modern waterworks — Busan got a facility in 1895 and a small waterworks was built in the Deoksugung Palace in 1905. The Busan facility, however, only provided drinking water and lacked sanitation equipment, while the Deoksugung facility provided service to the royal family only.

Former Northwest Academic Society Building

Since I was in the neighborhood — and I needed to get a decent photo of something — I dropped by the campus of Konkuk University to see Konkuk University Museum, the former meeting hall of the Northwest Academic Society Building.

The Northwest Academic Society was an academic and political organization founded in 1908 by Korean independent activist, educator and grandfather of the Korean-American community Dosan Ahn Chang-ho. The society was composed of 33 young intellectuals from the northwestern regions of Korea, and engaged cultural enlightenment activities and political activities to protect Korea’s independence at a time when it was under threat from Japan.

The Renaissance-style building red-brick building — designed by a Chinese architect — was built in 1908, and was originally located at Jongno 2-ga, more specifically, just behind and to the left of where the Nakwon Arcade now stands. It was moved to its present location in 1985. And here’s a little synchronicity for you — the building was modeled on the headquarters of the Hansung Electric Company (nice photos, BTW), which was founded by… Henry Collbran and Harry R. Bostwick.

In 1910, the Northwest Academic Society turned it into a modern educational facility, the Oseong School. The school was closed by the Japanese Government-General when Japan annexed Korea that very same year, but in keeping with the spirit of the Northwest Academic Society, the building was used mostly as a school in the ensuing years. In 1918, it was used as a classroom building by Posung College, now Korea University. Four years later, Posung College moved, and another school took over the building. In 1939, however, it was purchased by Dr. Yoo Suk-chang, the founder of Konkuk University.

In 1945, it was used as the headquarters of the Korea Democratic Party (Hanmindang), the forbearer of today’s Democratic Party and the virtual ruling party under the US military government of 1945-1948.

The Hanmindang shortly moved out, and in May 1946, Dr. Yoo turned it into Chosun Political Science School, which would later become Konkuk University. Oddly enough, the founding committee of Kookmin University — founded in March of 1946 — couldn’t find a decent place to meet, so they ended up meeting in Dr. Yoo’s building. Then in June 1947, a group of figures that had split from the Kookmin University founding committee for political reasons (easy to see, given how Syngman Rhee and Kim Ku were two of the founders) decided to set up their own college — Dankook University — and rented some of Dr. Yoo’s classrooms.

What this means is that the former hall of the Northwest Academic Society was, simultaneously, the birthplace of three of Korea’s major universities.

Anyway, when Konkuk moved to its present campus in 1956, the university continued to use the old building as a night school and a legal office. In 1985, it was moved to its current location and turned into a museum. The building’s ride isn’t done yet, though — Konkuk is building a new museum, and plans to convert the historic old building back into the school’s legal office.

Good architectural information (in Korean) on the building here.

Paiwha Girls’ High School

Yesterday was the fourth Sunday of the month, which means it was time for another Seoul Foundation tour. This time, we spent most of our time around Mt. Inhwangsan. Didn’t get a chance to take many photos, unfortunately, although I did get some time at historic Paiwha Girls’ High School.

Paiwha Girls’ High School was founded as the Carolina Hakdang in 1898 by Texas-born missionary Josephine Eaton Peel Campbell of the American Southern Methodist Episcopal Mission. It became the Paiwha Hakdang in 1910, the Paiwha Higher Normal School in 1925 and finally Paiwha Girls High School in 1938. It might be most famous for being the alma mater of Yuk Young-soo, the assassinated First Lady of Park Chung-hee.

Paiwha Girls’ High School has a number of handsome red-brick buildings from the old days. I’m not sure when the Main Hall (seen above) was built, but judging from this photo, I’d say early colonial period. The most notable of the school’s buildings, however, is the Multi-Purpose Hall, or saenghwalgwan, which was originally built as the living quarters of the school’s Western missionaries:

The building — again, I’m not sure of the date of construction — is considered a typical example of Western missionary architecture from the early 20th century.

Nice view from the campus, BTW — you can get a glimpse of all of downtown Seoul, including the Gyeongbokgung Palace. There are also stunning views of Mt. Bugaksan from here, too.

Here’s another big red-brick building on campus. Frankly, I have no idea as to what this building is or when it was built.

Don’t forget the slideshows for all that good, close-to-full size action: here’s the one for Seoul Waterworks and Konkuk University Museum, and here’s the one for Paiwha Girls’ High School.