• Journal of architectural history
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.37-50
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• 2020

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.