Nakseonjae in Changdeokgung Palace was established at The King Hunjong’s 13rd year (1847), the mid-19th century. It was constructed for own rests of King Hunjong and the residence of Kyungbin (king’s concubines), and is showing features of upper-class houses from several points such as rustic architectural types by getting out of authoritative aspects as king’s shelter space within the palace, block and floor distribution that separated spaces for men and women, simplicity in structures and styles, and non-colorful painting etc. This study aims at tracing on which architectural types did the upper-class houses within Hanyang (modern Seoul) at late Joseon Dynasty have and what was characteristics of Nakseonjae. The resemblance between Nakseonjae and the upper-class houses was very little differences from scale aspects, and floor plan shapes of Anchae (women’s quarters) and Sarangchae (men’s quarters) were followed basic common styles. Also, resemblance could be confirmed in the structural styles too. Characteristics of Nakseonjae are showing apparent differences from clearance compositions such as hall configuration etc. Nakseonjae was king’s dwelling place, and spaces for house’s collateral functions such as kitchen, stable, and warehouse etc together with shrine were unnecessary, and such places were substituted into servants’ quarters for assisting the Royal family. In detailed structural styles, column’s size was larger 3cm or more than the upper-class houses, and its height was higher to the degree of 30~60cm. Besides, formality as king’s shelter space was raised more in decorating aspects, and Nakseonjae was implemented by getting architectural influences from Qing Dynasty of China. This study induced features of Hanyang’s upper-class houses at the 19th century by supplementing distribution and space configurations at existing cases of Seoul and Gyeonggi area together with house diagrams having been collected by Gaokdohyung (site and floor plan) of Jangseogak Library, and confirmed resemblances and differences with Nakseonjae, that is, features of Nakseonjae. Through the result, this study judges a fact that architecture of Nakseonjae seemed to be affected from conveniences of upper-class houses within Hanseong, and also architectural styles and distribution types of Nakseonje would give influences to the upper-class houses.

This paper aims to clarify the historical background and the architectural purpose of the buildings in NakSunJae area to the original state. Through the investigation, the clarified facts are as follows. 1. The relation with the buildings for the Crown Prince in the ChangDok Palace By constructing buildings in the NakSunJae area, the spatial conception of the Royal Palace was changed, that is, buildings for the Crown Prince in the ChangDok Palace disappeared and they became to belong to the ChangGyeong Palace. Moreover, by constructing the NakSunJae and its attached buildings, the area for the Crown Prince shifted to use as a private area for the king. 2. The date and the purpose of the construction The NakSunJae area is consisted of three compounds of building: NakSunJae, SukBokHun and SooKangJae. The NakSunJae was constructed for the king HunChong's private occupancy in 1847 and the SukBokHun for a residence of a royal concubine Kim, in 1847. The SooKangJae was originally built in 1785 in the SooKang Palace where the ex-king took up as his residence after abdicate the throne. Later on, it was repaired as the residence of the Queen SoonWon, king HunChong's grandmother, in commemoration for the 60th anniversary of her birth in 1848. 3. Architectural features of the NakSunJae area at the time of construction First, as the NakSunJae area is surrounded by quite high hills in northeast and by low hills in southwest, it is naturally distinguished from its surroundings and gives a cosy feeling. Second, the NakSunJae area shows very untrammeled style of arrangement in general, because it was constructed as a private occupancy for the king. other buildings are arranged in the latticing orderly, nonetheless, they are free by themselves from a strict form and make themselves an area full of variety. Third, the buildings in the NakSunJae area have a characteristic of naivety of common people's houses, because they were not an official but private place for the king, his concubine and his grandmother. Forth, the ornaments in the NakSunJae area are variously, elegantly and harmoniously patterned with the meaning of good luck. Fifth, back garden in the NakSunJae area was made by taking advantage of sloping hills. The back garden is beautifully configurated by arranging various constituent elements of pavilions, tiered flower beds, chimneys, decorated walls, small doors between walls, stoneworks and trees.