Or, why blame the Japanese for tearing down much of Seoul’s history when Seoul Metropolitan Government can do it just as well?
Photo stolen from here.
And remind me again — we’re defacing a historic Seoul landmark to build a giant iMac G3?
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68 Comments
This proposed “blue wave” design was and is a poor, tasteless idea, IMHO.
Restoring old buildings is very expensive, its usually cheaper just to knock them down and build new.
Another issue is restoring old buildings requires SKILLED tradesmen.
Usually the cheaper option wins and secondly, where in Korea are you going to find skilled tradespeople.
Well, yes, it can be expensive, but the personnel do exist — some of the old buildings in Jeongdong are currently undergoing renovation, and I recently met and chatted with a Korean architect who was renovating an old Japanese traditional farmstead in Iksan — if you can find guys who can do that, you can find guys who can renovate Seoul City Hall.
This wasn’t an issue of expense or skills — Seoul City has been looking to tear down the Taepyeong Hall for some time to make room for a new City Hall building. It’s not like I’m anti-development either, but City Hall is a listed cultural property, which you’d hope would encourage the authorities to handle it with care.
Heartbreaking. The sad thing is that the Seoul government will realise it was a bad idea too. Unfortunately, they will realise in 2035, having torn down the old Seoul Station building too.
It is clear that Robert is very passionate about early modern architectures, even causing him to write ‘Plan to’ twice in the title.
Very sad, but not surprisingly given its history and this Government’s pro-development stance. The demolition is made all the worse by the monstrosity that will be replacing it.
I don’t mind the demolition in order build a new city hall, but I do mind the blue wave replacing it. Why do I feel people are going to regret after it’s completed. If I was in another district, then it might be ok, as the design itself is understandable, but in old downtown, it’s a bit….
I don’t understand. Didn’t demolition of this wing of the building begin early last year (if not earlier) and wasn’t the original city hall building always intended to be retained, as is seen in the planned new building photo.
I for one can’t wait until the government starts knocking down the uglier buildings.
tear the frigging thing down i say. out with the old, in with the new. the building, to say the least, has little charm and represents too much of an old generation’s mentality. house cleaning is good. IF the building had dorian pillars and true gothic facets etc….yeah. but honestly…the place looks like a communist/fascist headquarters.
I’m also of the opinion that the addition is not appropriate, and I’m usually all in favor of contemporary architecture. Seoul Station is another confusing monstrosity.
The addition would be fine for New Songdo or somewhere in Kangnam.
The main hall of the original building will still be retained, and yes, a lot of newer, post Liberation additions were removed last year, but what is happening now is that the Taepyeong Hall is being torn down. The Taepyeong Hall is a historic, colonial-era annex and a registered cultural property.
The Cultural Heritage Administration, in response, temporarily named the entire complex a “historical site” (sajeok), so work has stopped, but the damage looks like it’s already been done.
Neither does most of the major architectural landmarks of New York City. Don’t see any pillars or Gothic elements on the Empire State Building, do you? Cold and heartless it is — there’s a reason Mussolini’s architects loved Art Deco.
Yes, because Seoul needs more concrete and steal offices to make up for its clear preponderance of early 20th century neo-Baroque architecture.
There’s more about this at the Korea Times, and this photo shows the corroded iron bars mentioned in the article.
What the city is doing now is definitely of the ‘don’t try this at home’ variety, considering that a ‘crazy old man’ is sitting in prison for 10 years for doing essentially the same thing.
Disappointed.
City Hall and Namdaemun were always my “Symbols of Seoul” back in the day when I used to trek up here from the provinces every so often.
At least they’re keeping the Facade.
Looks like there are people out there who agree with the Marmot, as the Korea Times article in #13 points out . . . I’m all for the Cultural Properties Committee and Cultural Heritage Administration throwing some weight around here!
I certainly hope so, lest other locales get similar ideas (and I can think of a few who might), but they have to be careful — the 등록문화재제 relies on cooperation with property owners, and if the CHA comes on too strong, it could discourage owners from registering their properties in the future.
Mr. Marmot, you maybe misunderstood me. When I wrote “Seoul Station is another confusing monstrosity” I was referring to the addition, not the original building.
Seoul’s skyline is drab and uninspired, and you can blame the unimaginative chaebol for that. There a many good Korean architects practicing here, but you wouldn’t know that from what you see around you since they rarely get big commissions.
Oh, in that case, I’m almost inclined to agree — but frankly, I think they did an OK job of designing a modern station without destroying the original one, albeit this is probably depends on ones individual tastes. What IS a bit disappointing, however, is that they were unable to actually utilize the old station as part of the new one.
Oh come on that City Hall building looks like shit, good riddance
shall we vigil ce soir, via candlelight?
Interesting dilemma…
to despise your colonial history, yet relish it.
Personally, I’m all for keeping grand old buildings.
They have a charm and style that moderns structures cant attain.
I’m not one to defend this particular building as I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it .. but the general Korean tendency to blot out its architectural history is a bad one, particularly if Korea really is serious about building itself as a destination country. Stupid and badly designed “modern” building appeal to no one but architects.
I think its a great idea to smash that old building down.
The wave is great - all glass and steel and funny shaped.
Its fantastic. I think your subject heading for the post is
an exaggeration. I seriously doubt the old city hall building
features in anyone’s decision to visit Korea. There are plenty
of better historical sites than that old, decripit, boring, not
worth-visiting building. The facade is really all you need.
If the bulk is intact, they can still keep it, no? The Germans are good at restoring old buildings from scratch, and with minimal destruction, it should be a much easier task.
I’m not an architect, so how do you restore unsafe corroded metal structures?
I guess it’s a matter of taste. I find it’s Renaissance design with Art Deco elements quite pleasing, its lobby is fantastic, and as one of the few remaining vestiges of early 20th century Seoul remaining along Taepyeongno, it brings character.
I can think of plenty of examples of historic architecture around the world that probably don’t factor into anyone’s decision to visit. Heck, I doubt Buseoksa or Dosan Seowon feature into anyone’s decision to visit Korea, either.
But that’s not the point — the point is, you start knocking down what little Seoul has left from its past, and the city is that much poorer for it. And it eventually adds up. This isn’t the first such incident under the current mayor — the old Pimatgol is now gone, and Yongsan’s Singye-dong has been completely demolished. I’m not completely unreasonable in this regard — losing the old Pimatgol and Singye-dong was sad, and I wish they could have utilized the old in building the new, but at least I understood the logic. City Hall, however, was a registered cultural property that the city essentially ambushed the CHA in defacing. And for what? To build another piece of modern architecture the likes of which you can find in any major city around the world? Bleh — I’ll take the old, decript, boring, not-worth-visiting building, thanks.
I wish the city would allow that stretch of Pimatgol next to Kyobo bookstore to remain, as it’s quite small but is still picturesque in its own way. The way it was “reborn” within that fugly Jongno Town building (that’s what advertisements years ago for Jongno Town actually said: “Pimatgol is reborn!”) makes you wonder why they even bothered. The signs refer only to the alley’s origins during the Joseon dynasty, effacing both the alley itself and its 20th century history. If they extended the same logic to Namdaemun, they could just build an office tower with a passageway through its center on the first floor and say, “Namdaemun is reborn!”
Korea is so thin on historic architecture that the authorities should have thought harder about the way city hall is going to be dominated by the addition. When the Whitney Museum in NYC wanted to expand, an architect proposed an addition that would have literally covered the historic Marcel Breuer building, and it was shot down by preservationists. Aesthetic debates aside, Seoul’s city hall is an historic building. At least they could have built something behind it that was more modest and retained the facade.
Pimatgol’s great for a cheap lunch (if you can get over the smell of heaps of rotting garbage in the bags in front of the restaurants) and I’d like to see what’s left of it kept there, but it’s not a place I’d take a visitor too, because it’s filthy. Maybe some of the grime is from the Chosun too
The rule should be that with the destruction of every historic building, a new, genuinely more cultural impressive one should be erected in its place.
Building ‘cultural buildings’ is just copying the work of some other dude that copied another dude from some time ago that most likely are only related by the fact that maaybe they pissed on the same tree. Just adding to the mantra of sticking with only the ‘Han’. Forget it, just tear it down and build something nicer.
I’m just annoyed, at Seoul Station and at the proposed addition, that no effort has been made to create harmony between the old and new spots.
I read an article that referenced seoul as having developed almost completely during the ugliest architectural era mankind has seen (steel and glass). . . I just don’t know what to do. . . though I’ll also say that even if a building DOES have a fantastic design, nobody notices when it’s covered by gaudy flashing neon signs. (I could point out six or seven like that in Jongno alone).
Korea suffers from big dick syndrome. Build something bigger, flaunt the appearance of wealth. Particularly embarrassing was that braggadocio over how nice our public bathrooms are! Talk about overcomensating for insecurity.
People who visit countries like Tailand come away impressed by the character of the people and the culture, and could care less taht there are no huge buildings. People who visit Japan come away with a strong impression of the balance and harmony between tradition and modernity.
What impression do people who visit Seoul come away with? A frantic, neurotic compulsion to brag, impress and overcomensate?
How about replacing the building with a nondemominational Buddhist retreat center, in which anyone is welcome to meditate and reflect?
“How about replacing the building with a nondemominational Buddhist retreat center, in which anyone is welcome to meditate and reflect?”
I don’t know about that, but I hope they don’t knock down the New Seoul Hotel a few buildings north, home to a great whorehouse with a spacious bathhouse, good looking girls, and a reasonable price.
Its a little bit of Gangnam north of the river.
Rip em all down. Good riddance. Korea doesn’t need constant reminders of its Japanese colonization. We can read about it all we want in the history books.
The Pimatgol of today’s relationship to the Pimatgol of the Joseon times is little better than the Jongno Town’s Pimatgol. Do you think those three-storey redbrick buildings were there in Sejong’s day?
Yeah, Pimatgol has a certain rustic charm. But let’s not kid ourselves about its importance. It has nostalgia, but not history.
The problem with the Jongno Town Pimatgol isn’t that its new alley is cheap and ugly; the whole damn building is cheap and ugly. Would it kill these developers to hire a decent architect?
> Korea doesn’t need constant reminders
> of its Japanese colonization.
Hell, I’m still mad that the Yi’s took over the whole country. Bloody savages. Tear down everything built since 1392.
If I were in charge, I’d have commissioned Albert Speer Jr to come up with something more suitable.
personally, i find all these buildings look pretty horrid looking and deserve the bulldozer. At least the new ones will be cheap.
Built-in obsolence is a feature of Korean construction anyway. Buildings are designed to be demolished and rebuilt before they collapse due to shoddy construction anyway.
#39,
You mean building standards have improved in the 20 years since I’ve been there? Back then, the buildings (most notably my apartment) were disintegrating well before they had a chance to become obsolete - it was about the two-years-post-construction mark that you realized the place had been shoddily built.
You mean that there are building standards in the ROK? Does anyone there know about this? I would think that any real standards that were in-place would be accompanied by more enforcement than a ‘fine’ of a few rounds of soju and some pocket money for the ‘building inspectors’…
Besides, most buildings do get knocked down prior to their catastrophic failure with accompanying massive loss of life… Sampoong was an aberration. So was the Seongsu Bridge.
While they’re at it they should also demolish the blueprints for the monstrosity they were planning to build behind it. Word is the shrewd 2MB is planning to construct something more traaditional, along the lines of the Yasukuni Shrine.
And remind me again — we’re defacing a historic Seoul landmark to build a giant iMac G3?
Well, if Mr Hurt, a self-proclaimed Apple snob, thinks it bad, then it must be so.
http://metropolitician.blogs.c.....-city.html
oops.
#43 — Just noticed the link.
Netizen Kim, I guess you missed my company so much that you had to bend over backwards to include me in the conversation, and based on Robert’s offhand comment about Macs, not mine.
Yeah, I’m an Apple snob — ever since the Mac SE and proud of it — but I don’t know how the Apple crack and the link to my blog is even relevant, since my own post essentially said what Robert said about the issue, used the same links, including one to this page, but didn’t talk about Macs. Huh?
Besides the fact that Netizen Blujives misses me, that is.
Ummm….
A building built by the Japanese during a colonial adminstration that Korea would best like to forget isn’t the kind of “cultural heritage” I think Korea wants to preserve…
But that wave thingy drawn up to replace it is hideous and I’d personally rather have the Meji era Imperial Palace in its place.
Locating the new Seoul station in the same location as the old Seoul Station was the worst urban planning decision in Seoul’s history.
Yeah, but that’s the thing — increasingly, it does. The CHA, local governments, preservation groups and even the general public are taking a greater interest in heritage remaining from that era. Lots of countries protect and promote their colonial-era heritage — see Shanghai, Singapore and even Vietnam, for example.
#32 - Thailand has no huge buildings? I suppose you have never been there. Baiyoke Tower - 85 storeys, State Tower - 68 storeys, Empire Tower 1 - 62 storeys, Banyan Tree Hotel - 61 storeys, Thai Wah Tower 2 - 60 storeys, Jewelry Trade Centre - 59 storeys, etc.
People do care about them a great deal and they are major tourist draws. Try getting a table as a walk-in at Vertigo or the Crystal Grill on any night of the week.
I haven’t been there for decades, but I love Thailand, as do many who visit it, and didn’t intend the remark in a disparaging way. My intent was to comment on the fact that the grace and beauty of the country and its people is more impressive than its modern edifices.
#48,
…as do most American and African nations.
Look at Cuba, for example. Destroying all it’s colonial era buildings would greatly harm its appeal as a travel destination. Just imagine New Orleans or Quebec City without its French colonial architecture.
…Which brings me to wonder…Why is Seoul spending so much money on trying to attract tourists when it’s tearing down a wing of one of its most historically significant buildings?
The foreign tourism issue aside, this heritage also has intrinsic cultural and historic value that more than justify their preservation. Now all the more so since there just isn’t all that much of it left.
Tripod “Which brings me to wonder…Why is Seoul spending so much money on trying to attract tourists when it’s tearing down a wing of one of its most historically significant buildings?”
One wonders what they intend to do with all those tourists it intends to lure here. What dastardly plan does 2MB have in store for these unwitting victims?
If they want to tear down a monstrosity let them go to Pagoda Park (Tapkol) and rip down the large steel and glass frame from around the pagoda. I realize that they did this to protect it from the city’s enviroment, but why not just replace it with the replica from the National Musuem? This would provide the real one with more security and would enhance Pagoda Park.
In the long term, the city hall (along with other occupation-era architectures) represents an integral part of Korea’s history and culture. Aside from the occupation itself, it is part of the modernizing process that Korea went through in the 20th century.
Unfortunately, in the short term, the city hall (along with other occupation-era architectures) represents a dark reminder of Korea’s not-so-fabulous-or-admired history in early 20th century. I understand why the Korean government is doing this (it must be almost cathartic) . But I do think the Korean population will regret this by the time I become a grandpa.
The Korean government isn’t doing it — the Korean government, in fact, is irate about it. Seoul Metropolitan Government is the one doing it, and they don’t even bother citing the “it’s shaped like one of the characters of Ilbon” tripe anymore since the CHA called them on it. This has little to do with righting historical wrongs — they’re not even tearing down the main hall — and everything to do with pursuing a pet project of the city.
Is the old city hall to become a museum once the rebuild is completed?
The city is talking about using it as a library.
A library is a really good idea. That will be perfect.
“Locating the new Seoul station in the same location as the old Seoul Station was the worst urban planning decision in Seoul’s history.”
Yeh, would have made much more sense to dig up all the tracks and put them and the station somewhere else.
@61
Moving the tracks would have been too expensive. All they had to do was move the station somewhere else (like Paju, there is lots of space).
But I’m kidding. I don’t know what the beef with the location is either.
But seriously, the old seoul station building doesn’t make for a very good venue for a history museum. A homeless persons’ help center or some sort of welfare facility would be a great idea. Coffee shop even.
BTW, has anybody been into the old Shinchon kijayok (the one in sodaemungu) since the new station building was built? Can you go inside? What is inside?
“One wonders what they intend to do with all those tourists it intends to lure here. What dastardly plan does 2MB have in store for these unwitting victims?”
Keep the Aryan-looking ones so they can be planted in the audiences of TV variety shows and send the rest to a work camp/economic zone in North Korea?
Most of the old buildings being replaced now were built during the japanese occupation, so they just bring bad memories to Koreans.
It’s true that Japan brought modernization to Korea, but at what price? It’s time to create a new image for Korea, reflecting its own identity.
As for the new building, I can’t wait to see it done, I’m sure it will refresh the place.
“so they just bring bad memories to Koreans.”
That’s not a good reason to destroy the building. If anything, it would be a reason to conserve the building.
Tripod, I respect your point of view, but this is not what koreans believe, at least, not with those building built by the japanese.
“but this is not what koreans believe”
Polls have long showed that most Koreans want to preserve structures like Seoul Station, City Hall.
I find the continued redevelopment of Seoul fascinating. I visit every couple of years, and it feels like visiting a space colony.
In a bubble of concrete, steel, and glass, riding the subway feels like some kind of tram between terminals. I’ve read descriptions of Seoul as being like the city in Blade Runner. That’s kind of how it feels to me. That makes it an interesting place to visit, but I can’t imagine living there again.
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[...] agreed to preserve the facade of the old City Hall and restore its central hall and dome. The Taepyeong Hall (see demolition photos here), meanwhile, will be pulled down and moved to a new [...]