Lee Jang-woo's House

Yangnim-dong Penguin Village Yangnim-dong in Gwangju started to become famous because of the “Penguin Village” located by the entrance to the village. The name of the neighborhood, Yangnim-dong, is a combination of yang, which means willow trees, and nim, meaning a forest. It was named after a great volume of willows on Gwangjucheon Stream that flows in front of the village. So how did the name, Penguin Village, come about all of a sudden? In the post-Korean War period, most of the people who settled in Yangnim-dong were poor. Those who had no land formed a dosshouse near Gwangjucheon Stream. Most of the people who lived here had physical disabilities, illnesses, or advanced ages at which they could not perform any arduous labor; they scrubbed along by collecting and selling junks and scrap metal they found on streets. Fire often broke out in empty houses to turn residences into ashes, and garbage began to pile up in houses and streets, gradually changing the place into a dangerous neighborhood. In order to transform the vibe of the town, the leader of the village and the residents cleaned out empty houses and set up a vegetable garden. The residents decided to name the garden as “Penguin Garden” after an elderly gentleman nicknamed “Penguin Ajae” (ajae is a dialect expression of ajeossi, or an older gentleman) who walked in a different way because of a leg that he had injured from an accident in the past. Also, the villagers thought the word, penguin, was cute. The name, Penguin Garden, spread through its people, and the name of the village also became “Penguin Village.” A unique vibe of Penguin Village was created from walls and the vegetable garden built with garbage and junk metal that were produced from the village. Various sculptures are standing by the village’s entrance as well; as you enter the village along the Statue of Peace and a robot made of scrap metal, you will reach the cultural rest area of Penguin Village. Here you can check out photos and artworks of the village. If you wish to enjoy the view of the neighborhood, take a picture in front of walls decorated on each street and small vegetable gardens set up in between.

Yangnim Church In 1904, an American missionary named Eugene Bell arrived in Gwangju. Together with Clement C. Owen who accompanied him on the journey to Korea, they chose where they were going to live. The first worship on Christmas in their home marks the beginning of Yangnim Church. As the church saw the number of its members grow, it relocated to within Bukmunan Gate of Gwangjuseong Fortress in 1906 and changed its name to Bukmunan Church in 1912 and then Geumjeong Church in 1919. In 1924, Yangnim Church branched out from Geumjeong Church (today's Gwangju Jeil Church) and has continued its existence to this day. After the separation, members of Yangnim Church held their worship services at Owen Memorial Hall. The church constructed its own chapel in 1926. The missionaries and doctors of Yangnim Church concentrated on education and medicine, which have ultimately led to the establishment of the Christian Hospital, Christian College of Nursing, and Speer Girls' Middle School and High School. Christians of Yangnim Church took part in the March 1st Movement and a movement in opposition of the shrine worship forced by Japan in order to defend their faith and pride as Joseon people in the colonial period. The chapel built in 1926 features impressive red bricks and long windows. The year of foundation is written on the left-side wall, so you can estimate how old this building really is. Owen Memorial Hall sits right next to the church, and the memorial briefly served as the chapel for Yangnim Church.

Owen Memorial Hall Upon his arrival to Gwangju, Clement C. Owen, an American missionary and medical doctor, began to perform medical activities with his wife, who was a nurse. At the time, Yangnim-dong was a neighborhood inhabited by impoverished Joseon people so his Western medical practice helped greatly. To get closer to Joseon people, the missionary even changed his name to a Korean one, “Oh Won” or “Oh Gi-won.” Even before he moved to Korea, Owen wanted to set up a space for memorial of his grandfather, William Owen, so his plan was to construct a building in Yangnim-dong to serve as a memorial and his clinic. His plans seemed to be vanishing, however, when Owen passed away in 1909 due to pneumonia from overwork. But the people of Yangnim-dong remembered Owen who had dedicated his life for them. In 1914, the villagers delivered the missionary's will to his relatives in America. Not too long after, Owen’s grandfather and his relatives sent 4,200 dollars in remembrance of him. M. L. Swinehart, known as an architect missionary at the time, and other Westerners designed a building whose exterior was made of gray-colored bricks and interior was made of wooden frames. The marble signboard at the memorial says, “IN MEMORY OF WILLAM L. AND CLEMENT C. OWEN,” in both English and Chinese so you can tell that this space pays tribute to the two men of the Owen family. There are two main gates to the building, which is an evidence of the social atmosphere of the era when it was built. Considering the distinctions that existed between men and women, men used the west gate while women passed through the north gate. Today, the inside of the building is used as the chapel for the Christian College of Nursing, so it is not open to the public. As the Gwangju Metropolitan City Tangible Cultural Heritage No. 26, Owen Memorial Hall shows the will of the missionaries who settled in Yangnim-dong.

Jo Ahra Memorial Hall Jo Ahra was a female activist who is known as the mother of Gwangju. Her pen name, “Sosimdang,” means “pure and innocent.” She was born in Naju in 1912 but graduated from Gwangju Speer Girls' High School and settled in Gwangju when she became a teacher at the Neel Bible School. The era in which Jo lived is the modern period widely regarded as the turbulent history of Korea with some of the most important events in the country's modern and contemporary history; she went through the Japanese colonization when she was in school, the Korean War when she was a young adult, and the Gwangju Uprising later in her life. When shrine worship and forced name change to Japanese names were implemented in 1936, Jo firmly refused to accept such ideas, which led to her imprisonment. The country was liberated soon after, and, in 1947, she oversaw the Gwangju YMCA to protect women's rights. Also, she operated Seongbinyeosa and Gyemyeong Women's Welfare Center aiming to educate women and protect the socially disadvantage. Even after the end of the Korean War, she carried out relief project and women's education project after another, and when the Gwangju Uprising commenced in 1980, Jo served as a member of the situation control committee and led the discharge of the imprisoned people and treatment for the wounded. Her work actually got her jailed on the charge of conspiracy of a rebellion. Jo spent her life for the citizens of Gwangju and the marginalized classes in our society. When she passed away in 2003, she was conferred with the Grand Order of Mugunghwa, and people who were supported and aided by her came together to establish the Jo Ahra Memorial Hall in 2015 in the present-day location.

House of Missionary Wilson Missionaries who came to Jeollanam-do Province arrived in Gwangju and settled down on a hill in Yangnim-dong where not many people had come and gone. One of the missionaries, Robert Manton Wilson, changed his name to “Woo Il-seon” to get closer to Joseon people. Wilson, a missionary and a surgeon, initially rented a hanok building for his missionary work before building a Western-style house later here. At first, the structure was used as a church and a house, but once the Yangnim Church building was established, it became solely the house of his family. The house is currently the oldest Western-style building in Gwangju and is designated as Gwangju Metropolitan City Monument No. 15. As a doctor at Jejung Hospital (Jejungwon), today's Kwangju Christian Hospital, Wilson led the efforts to treat and educate patients with leprosy and helped the completely cured to live new lives through vocational training. Consisted of a basement and two ground floors, the house is currently used as the church's mission work building, so it is not open to public. The gray bricks on the exterior are construction materials that were widely used in Netherlands at the time, and granite, a material that is easy to acquire in Korea, was also used in the building. With the materials used, the building boasts a unique structure combining Korean and Western components.