E2024-G146

The Introduction of Western Residential Housing: Missionary Wilson’s House

Narrative

Missionary Wilson’s House is the oldest Western-style house in Gwangju, said to have been built in 1920 by the American missionary Robert M. Wilson (1880-1963), who was the second director of Jejungwon Hospital. The two-story grey brick building is currently used as the office of the General Assembly of Presbyterian Church in Korea. Choonghyunwon, an orphanage led by Bak Sun-i (1921-1995), first began at Missionary Wilson’s House following the Korean War (1950-1953). Today, the house is used as a venue for the Jeong Yul-seong Music Festival commemorating composer Jeong Yul-seong (1914-1976).

Story Map

• Missionary Legacy: Western Christianity’s Transformation of Gwangju
  • As Seen Through Landmarks: The Influence of Western Missionaries in the Early Japanese Colonial Period
  • The Western Missionaries Laid to Rest in Gwangju: Yangnim-dong Missionary Cemetery
  • The Introduction of Western Residential Housing: Missionary Wilson’s House
  • Gone Too Soon in a Foreign Land: Missionary Children Who Passed Away in Gwangju
  • The Bell Family
  • The Nightingale of Korea: Elisabeth Johanna Shepping and the History of Nursing in Korea
  • Korea in the Early Twentieth Century as Seen by Western Missionaries in Gwangju