Seoul Window
Walk the hanok lanes of Bukchon long enough and something starts to feel off. The houses are too similar. Same gate width, same roofline, same length of wall, repeated down the alley like a row of terraced houses. If Joseon aristocrats had each built their own homes, it would never look like this.
The explanation is simple: these houses were built at the same time, by the same kind of company, to be sold. The hanok alleys of Bukchon and Ikseon-dong are housing estates that property developers created in the 1920s and 30s — buying up large lots, cutting them into small plots and lining them with standardized hanok. Think of it as the colonial-era version of a new-town development. This guide walks through how that happened, what these homes meant to Koreans, how the two neighborhoods have changed a century later, and where locals actually go today.
The short answer
- The hanok alleys of Bukchon and Ikseon-dong are 1920s–30s housing estates. Housing companies split big lots and built mid-sized hanok in batches to sell.
- The key figure is Jeong Se-gwon, founder of Geonyangsa. Ikseon-dong 166 is the hanok estate he built on the grounds of a former royal residence, Nudonggung.
- Today Bukchon is a residential area with tourist curfews; Ikseon-dong is a hanok shopping street. Tourists can enter Bukchon's Red Zone only from 10am to 5pm.
When was Bukchon Hanok Village built, and by whom?
Most of the hanok standing in Bukchon today were built and sold by housing companies in the 1920s and 30s. The neighborhood itself is genuinely old — powerful Joseon families lived here. But back then, Bukchon meant a handful of grand mansions spread over wide grounds, not the tightly packed lanes of small houses you see now.
The change began with Gyeongseong’s (colonial Seoul’s) housing crisis after the 1910s. The Seoul Hanok Portal explains that “due to the housing shortage after 1912,” mid-to-large lots were subdivided and a new type of hanok appeared, as housing companies looking to profit from home sales bought large parcels and forested land and built mid-sized hanok en masse. The classic examples are Gahoe-dong 11 and 31, Samcheong-dong 35 and Gye-dong 135. The sloping lane at Gahoe-dong 31, where visitors now line up for photos, was born exactly this way.
People poured in fast. Figures cited in a Pressian series (“Gyeongseong, reduced to a colonial city”) put the city’s population at about 250,000 in 1920, 350,000 in 1930 and 400,000 by 1935. Koreans arriving from the provinces for work had nowhere near enough places to live. Splitting one nobleman’s estate into ten or twenty homes was simply good business.
Why north of Cheonggyecheon?
Under Japanese rule, Seoul was roughly divided by the Cheonggyecheon stream. Japanese residents mostly lived to the south in Namchon (today's Myeongdong, Chungmuro and Hoehyeon-dong), and Koreans to the north in Bukchon. When the Government-General building went up inside Gyeongbokgung Palace in 1926, Japanese offices and official housing began moving north too, with residences built in Jeokseon-dong, Tongui-dong and Hyoja-dong. Koreans worried they would be pushed out of the old city altogether. Supplying hanok for Koreans in Bukchon was a business, but it happened against this backdrop.
Who was Jeong Se-gwon, the "architecture king"?
Jeong Se-gwon (1888–1965) was a Korean property developer who founded Geonyangsa in 1920 and built hanok estates all over Seoul. Originally from Goseong in South Gyeongsang Province, he served as a township head before moving to Gyeongseong in 1919 and starting his company the following year. In his book The Architecture King Built Gyeongseong (2017), Seoul National University professor Kim Kyung-min calls Geonyangsa Korea’s first full-service real estate company.
His output was enormous for its time. The 1929 Gyeongseong Almanac, as cited by Korean Wikipedia, records that Geonyangsa built “over 300 homes every year.” Seoul’s city newsletter Seoul& estimates he built around 2,000 hanok in and around the old city. Gahoe-dong and Samcheong-dong in Bukchon, Ikseon-dong, Bongik-dong, Hyehwa-dong, Seongbuk-dong, Changsin-dong, Wangsimni, Haengdang-dong — his work is scattered across the whole city.
He was more than a businessman. In the 1930s Jeong took part in the Korean Products Promotion Society and the Singanhoe independence coalition, and built and donated a hall for the Products Promotion Society at Nakwon-dong 300 and one for the Korean Language Society at Hwa-dong 129. He paid for it. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, he was imprisoned and severely tortured in the Korean Language Society incident, and his property was seized by the colonial authorities; Korean Wikipedia puts the land taken from him at more than 35,000 pyeong in Ttukseom. His business never recovered after liberation.
How was Ikseon-dong Hanok Village created?
The area around Ikseon-dong 166 is a hanok estate Jeong Se-gwon built in one go on the site of a former royal residence. According to the Seoul Hanok Portal, he bought land including Ikseon-dong 166, 33 and 19 — among them Nudonggung, the residence and shrine of King Cheoljong’s father — split it into small plots, and sold or leased the mid-sized hanok he built there.
The pace would look familiar to anyone who has watched a modern apartment complex go up. Seoul& reports that until 1929 the site still held the residence of a royal descendant; by 1935, dozens of hanok stood packed together. In six years, one royal compound had become an entire neighborhood.
If Bukchon was developed lot by lot by many different builders, Ikseon-dong was developed as a single block by a single developer. That’s why its alleys are narrower, its houses smaller and more uniform. The Seoul Hanok Portal notes that most Ikseon-dong hanok are under 30 pyeong (about 100㎡), with only a few in the 50-pyeong range.
💡 Practical tip: how to spot a 1920s "for-sale" hanok
- Tin awnings and gutters along the eaves — added to send rain to the drains instead of the courtyard. Joseon-era hanok didn't have them.
- Gates side by side — because the plots were split evenly, gate spacing and width are almost identical.
- Glass-paned doors and windows — many houses have glass doors along the main hall and rooms.
- Tile and brick details on outer walls — traces of modern materials mixed in.
What did the urban hanok mean to Koreans?
The urban hanok was the first “modern housing product” Koreans ever bought. In the Joseon era, a house was usually something the owner had a carpenter build. The hanok of the 1920s and 30s worked differently: the developer built first, and people chose a finished house to buy or rent on jeonse. Paying the price off in yearly or monthly installments also appeared at this time. In a sense, the way Koreans today buy a new apartment off-plan and pay down a loan started in these alleys.
The house itself modernized too. The sprawling yangban compound of multiple buildings and courtyards was compressed into one small ㅁ-shaped home, with a newly designed kitchen and toilet. It was a compromise: traditional form, adapted to cramped urban land and a new way of living. It was also how a Korean middle class put down roots in a colonial city.
After liberation, that meaning flipped for a while. From the 1970s, apartments became the symbol of a comfortable new home, and hanok were written off as cold, inconvenient old houses. Bukchon became a formal preservation target when it was designated a 4th-class aesthetic district in 1983, but after height limits were relaxed to 10m and three stories in 1991, more hanok were torn down for new buildings. The tide turned again in 2001, when Seoul launched the “Bukchon Revitalization” program built on a hanok registration system. From then on, the hanok began to be seen again not as an old house to demolish but as heritage to protect.
📅 A century of two neighborhoods — key dates
| Year | Bukchon | Ikseon-dong |
|---|---|---|
| 1920 | Jeong Se-gwon founds Geonyangsa | Jeong Se-gwon founds Geonyangsa |
| 1920s–30s | Large lots at Gahoe-dong 11 & 31, Samcheong-dong 35, Gye-dong 135 subdivided into hanok estates | Nudonggung land purchased; hanok estate complete by around 1935 |
| 1983 | Designated a 4th-class aesthetic district — preservation begins | — |
| 1991 | Height limit relaxed (10m, 3 stories) — more hanok demolished | — |
| 2001 | ”Bukchon Revitalization” launched, based on hanok registration | — |
| 2004 | — | Designated an urban redevelopment zone |
| 2014 | — | Redevelopment committee disbands; plan collapses |
| 2018 | — | Designated a hanok-concentrated area; district unit plan adopted |
| 2024–25 | Special management zone; Red Zone fines from March 2025 | — |
What are Bukchon and Ikseon-dong like today?
Born the same way a century ago, the two neighborhoods now face opposite problems. Bukchon is restricting tourism to protect a place where people still live; Ikseon-dong chose to become a shopping district instead of being redeveloped.
Bukchon — a residential area with tourist hours
Bukchon is still a neighborhood people live in, but tourism has thinned its population. According to a Hankook Ilbo report (August 2023), the number of residents in Gahoe-dong and Samcheong-dong fell 27.8% (2,422 people) in the ten years after 2013, and of the 16 hanok on Bukchon-ro 11-gil, only two were still lived in. Noise, litter and invasions of privacy drove residents out.
So Jongno-gu designated Bukchon a special management zone. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, about 34,000㎡ around Bukchon-ro 11-gil is the Red Zone, and tourists may visit only from 10am to 5pm. After a grace period starting in November 2024, fines have applied since March 2025. The city has also announced restrictions on chartered tour buses.
💡 Practical tip: Bukchon etiquette
- The Red Zone (around Bukchon-ro 11-gil) is open to tourists 10am–5pm only. No early-morning or evening photo sessions.
- Don't peer through gates or sit on steps and walls for photos — most of these are private homes.
- Keep your voice down in the lanes and take your trash with you.
Ikseon-dong — a hanok shopping street instead of redevelopment
Ikseon-dong nearly disappeared. In 2004 it was designated an urban redevelopment zone, and plans moved forward to replace the hanok with a 14-story mixed-use complex (Edaily, January 2018). But in 2010 Seoul’s urban planning committee called for preserving the hanok, and after years of conflict among residents, the redevelopment committee disbanded in 2014 and the plan collapsed.
Around the time redevelopment stalled, young entrepreneurs began renovating the tired hanok into cafés and restaurants, and within a few years Ikseon-dong became Seoul’s busiest hanok alley district. The Seoul Hanok Portal counts some 330 restaurants, service businesses and shops as of 2018. Seoul designated Ikseon-dong a hanok-concentrated area that year and adopted a district unit plan; according to Edaily, it bars large franchises and caps buildings on the main roads at five stories (20m).
Where do locals actually go these days? — Bukchon
We stepped slightly off the tourist route to pick long-running shops and places where neighborhood people actually go. Bukchon’s old-school restaurants are covered in Bukchon Old Restaurants and its hanok cafés in Bukchon & Ikseon-dong Cafés Top 10, so this list focuses on places that don’t overlap.
Daegu Sesame Oil Shop (Daegu Chamgireumjip) — pressing oil on Gyedong-gil for nearly 50 years
Walk up Gyedong-gil from Anguk Station toward Jungang High School and the nutty smell reaches you before the sign does. This oil mill opened in 1975, and the current owner took over in 1990 (Jongno Cultural Foundation, 2023). It presses sesame and perilla oil and also sells misutgaru grain powder and chili flakes. For decades locals came here to press oil before every holiday; lately more foreign travelers show up on “mill tours.” It’s designated one of Seoul’s Long-Standing Shops (Oraegage).
Chamasineun Tteul — ssanghwa-tang in a hanok courtyard
A hanok tea house up the Samcheong-dong hill (Bukchon-ro 11na-gil). You sit in rooms wrapped around a courtyard and drink traditional teas such as ssanghwa-tang (a warming herbal tonic), ginger tea and omija tea. Plenty of tourists find it, but it also has a steady following of Koreans bringing their parents for a quiet afternoon. It’s on a lane inside the Red Zone, so plan to stop by before 5pm. Per the latest listing on Diningcode, it closes on Tuesdays.
Bukchon Son Mandu, Bukchon branch — neighborhood dumplings without the queue
A handmade dumpling shop on Bukchon-ro 4-gil. The flagship is in Insadong, and this is the Bukchon branch of a dumpling brand with shops around Seoul. The menu sticks to easy staples — fried dumplings, galbi dumplings, anchovy-broth kalguksu — so nearby office workers and residents drop in for a quick meal. It’s an easy bite before or after walking the hanok lanes.
Dongrim Knot Workshop — traditional knotwork inside a public hanok
A traditional knotwork (maedeup) workshop on Bukchon-ro 12-gil in Gahoe-dong. It’s one of the “public hanok” that the Seoul Metropolitan Government bought and runs, which also makes it one of the few places where you can see the inside of a 1920s–30s urban hanok up close. According to the Seoul Hanok Portal it opens 10am–6pm and closes on Mondays and major holidays. For hands-on knot-making, it’s safest to ask in advance.
The Gyedong-gil bathhouse
In the middle of Gyedong-gil stood Jungangtang, a neighborhood bathhouse that opened in 1969. It closed in 2014, and in 2016 eyewear brand Gentle Monster turned it into a showroom, keeping the old sign, boiler and bath structures. It was the clearest example of how Bukchon's everyday spaces were becoming shops for visitors.
Where do locals actually go these days? — Ikseon-dong & Nakwon-dong
Inside Ikseon-dong’s hanok alleys, most businesses now target a young crowd. We picked the ones Koreans keep coming back to, along with shops just outside the alleys in Nakwon-dong and Donui-dong that have served the neighborhood for decades.
Wonjo Nakwon Tteokjip — a rice-cake shop older than Ikseon-dong’s hanok
This shop was in the neighborhood before the Ikseon-dong hanok estate was even built. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, it began as a tteok (rice cake) shop opened by people who had worked in the royal palace, has been passed down the family since around 1920, and was named a Seoul Future Heritage in 2018. Signature cakes include dutureop-tteok, five-color gyeongdan and injeolmi. Nakwon-dong’s whole rice-cake alley is said to have grown up around it. Before major holidays, the line for tteok stretches down the street.
Chanyangjip — 60 years of seafood kalguksu
A kalguksu (knife-cut noodle) shop in the Donhwamun-ro 11da-gil alley, open since 1965. It serves hand-cut noodles in a broth of clams and seafood, plus handmade dumplings. It was listed in the Michelin Guide Seoul from 2017 to 2019 and, together with its neighbors, turned this lane into “kalguksu alley.” At lunch, office workers from around Jongno sit elbow to elbow with neighborhood elders. Closed Sundays.
Wonjo Somunnanjip — ugeoji hangover soup from 4am
A soup joint on Supyo-ro, in front of Nakwon Arcade. It serves one thing: a hangover soup of doenjang, ugeoji (dried cabbage greens) and tofu, with no meat. According to food outlet Wikifoodie, a bowl costs ₩3,000, up gradually from ₩500 in 1986. It was a favorite of the late TV host Song Hae and has appeared on television many times. Older men drifting between Tapgol Park and Nakwon Arcade come here from before dawn — a face of Jongno entirely different from the hanok cafés a block away.
Changhwadang — the dumpling queue of Ikseon-dong
A handmade dumpling shop on Supyo-ro 28-gil in Ikseon-dong. The menu centers on bunsik staples — dumplings, tteokbokki, jjolmyeon chewy noodles — and on weekends a line forms in the alley. It’s well known enough to sell frozen dumplings in big supermarkets and online grocery apps. To dodge the wait, aim for right after opening on a weekday.
Ojugine — spicy chicken stew for after-work crowds
A spicy chicken and octopus stew restaurant on Donhwamun-ro 11ga-gil. It got busy enough to open an annex and a third branch in the same alley, and it’s a favorite for office groups in the evening. The ritual: finish the stew, then fry rice in the leftover broth. Closed Sundays.
Dongbaek Yanggwajeom — a retro hanok dessert café
A hanok café on Supyo-ro 28-gil in Ikseon-dong, known for soufflé pancakes and parfaits. The interior recalls the Western-style confectioneries (yanggwajeom) of 1920s–30s Gyeongseong, so you can taste the era when these urban hanok were brand new. It was listed in the Blue Ribbon Survey every year from 2022 to 2024.
🗺️ Every place in this guide at a glance
| Area | Place | Type | Key point |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bukchon, Gye-dong | Daegu Sesame Oil Shop | Oil mill | Since 1975, Seoul Long-Standing Shop |
| Bukchon, Samcheong-dong | Chamasineun Tteul | Hanok tea house | Inside the Red Zone — visit before 5pm |
| Bukchon, Gahoe-dong | Bukchon Son Mandu | Dumplings, kalguksu | An easy neighborhood meal |
| Bukchon, Gahoe-dong | Dongrim Knot Workshop | Craft workshop | City public hanok, closed Mondays |
| Nakwon-dong | Wonjo Nakwon Tteokjip | Rice cakes | Since around 1920, Seoul Future Heritage |
| Donui-dong | Chanyangjip | Seafood kalguksu | Open since 1965, closed Sundays |
| Nakwon-dong | Wonjo Somunnanjip | Ugeoji hangover soup | Opens before dawn, older regulars |
| Ikseon-dong | Changhwadang | Handmade dumplings | Weekend queues |
| Ikseon-dong | Ojugine | Spicy chicken stew | After-work favorite, closed Sundays |
| Ikseon-dong | Dongbaek Yanggwajeom | Hanok dessert café | Retro confectionery concept |
💡 Practical tip: a one-day route
- Morning — From Anguk Station: Gyedong-gil (Daegu Sesame Oil Shop) → the Gahoe-dong 31 slope → Chamasineun Tteul in Samcheong-dong. Leave the Red Zone before 5pm.
- Lunch — Bukchon Son Mandu, or one of the Bukchon old restaurants.
- Afternoon — Walk about 15 minutes to Ikseon-dong. Loop the hanok alleys and rest at Dongbaek Yanggwajeom.
- Evening — Kalguksu at Chanyangjip or chicken stew at Ojugine, and a bag of tteok from Wonjo Nakwon Tteokjip on the way home.
The alleys of Bukchon and Ikseon-dong aren’t a snapshot of Joseon. They’re a snapshot of an era when Koreans were searching for a place to live in a colonial city. As you walk past those rows of identical gates, remember that each house was once someone’s first home of their own, paid off in monthly installments a hundred years ago. The same lane will look a little different. If you’re curious about Seoul’s other modern-history streets, walk Jeongdong too.
Sources
- Seoul Hanok Portal — Hanok villages: Bukchon (lot subdivision, housing companies, preservation timeline)
- Seoul Hanok Portal — Hanok villages: Ikseon-dong (Jeong Se-gwon, Nudonggung, 118 hanok, ~330 businesses, redevelopment history)
- Seoul Metropolitan Government — Jeong Se-gwon, the architecture king who protected hanok, and Bukchon
- Seoul Media Hub — Bukchon Hanok Village visiting hours for tourists
- Seoul& — Jeong Se-gwon, father of Ikseon-dong's hanok
- Korean Wikipedia — Jeong Se-gwon (citing the 1929 Gyeongseong Almanac; Ttukseom land)
- Kyunghyang Shinmun — Review of Kim Kyung-min's The Architecture King Built Gyeongseong
- Pressian — Gyeongseong, reduced to a colonial city · Japan takes Gyeongbokgung, tramples Bukchon and Seochon
- Edaily — Ikseon-dong released from redevelopment after 14 years (Jan 2018)
- Hankook Ilbo — Only 2 of 16 hanok still lived in: "ghost town" Bukchon (Aug 2023)
- Jongno Cultural Foundation — Bukchon Gyedong-gil, then and now (Daegu Sesame Oil Shop)
- Seoul Media Hub — Wonjo Nakwon Tteokjip · Wikifoodie — Wonjo Somunnanjip · Wikifoodie — Ojugine
- Seoul Hanok Portal — Dongrim Knot Workshop · Diningcode and Polle listings (Chamasineun Tteul, Bukchon Son Mandu, Chanyangjip, Dongbaek Yanggwajeom)
- Opening hours and closing days are based on information published online as of September 2026. Check Naver Map again before you go.