In 2020, Yi Hunwoo was discovered as one of the earliest modern architects in Korea. However, his personal life was yet mostly unknown, including the time of his death. The research team (‘the team’ hereafter) searched for the records of his personal life and professional career. First, his family genealogical chart revealed that he died in 1937. Having located and contacted Yi’s direct descendents, the team was able to clarify his family background with the descendants’ testimonies. They possess the photographs of him and his family members, including Yi’s picture when he was a freshman at the Nagoya Higher Technical School in Japan. The team also identifies his birthplace and the location of his grave as Hadong, Gyeongsangnamdo, Korea. The team visited his project site in Jinju, Gyeonsangnamdo, Korea and obtained more detailed information about the Ilshin Girls’ High School, which he designed in 1928. Gyohoan, the congregation records of Cheondogyo, one of the leading religions in Korea during Yi’s times, confirmed that he was one of the congregation members. The field research also discovered the house he designed and built in his hometown of Hadong, probably the only surviving architectural project by him. This paper is to report the result of the research on Yi’s life and career with the aim of providing materials for further studies in identifying and positioning him more properly in the early 20th century Korean architectural scene.

This research focuses on the life and works of architect Yi Hunwoo, who was active in early 20th century. Yi has been previously mentioned in a few research documents, but not as a main subject of interest. Thanks to digitalized historic databases, the authors of this research were able to access more information about Yi. It was discovered that he was born in Korea in the late 19th century and then attended the Nagoya Higher Technical School in Japan. After repatriation, he participated in a few public projects in Korea as an in-house architect at the Governor-General’s office, then started his own practice and produced his individual projects. He also contributed articles on innovations in residential design to newspapers. Chronologically, his activities as an architect preceeded those of Park Gilyong, who has been conventionally regarded as the first Korean modern architect so far. This research would like to establish Yi Hunwoo as a historic figure whose professional career spanned the earlier stage of the Korean modern architecture, based on the records of his life and professional activities. The authors do not wish to present the architectural analysis nor evaluation of his works, which will be subject to future researches.