Two of Jeju's Best Tesiphone-Style Houses to Become Cultural Heritage Sites

'Jeju Isidolmokjang Tesiphone-style House' Established by Father McGrinch in 1961

Two of the oldest Tessipon-style houses in Jeju will become cultural heritage sites.

On the 6th, the Cultural Heritage Administration announced that it will announce the registration of the "Jeju Isidore Ranch Tessipon-style House," built in 1961 by Father Patrick James McGrinch of the Irish Saint Columban Foreign Mission Society, as a national registered cultural heritage. Opinions from various sectors will be collected for a month, and the registration decision will be finalized after a review by the Cultural Heritage Committee.

These houses are located at 77-4 and 135, Geumak-ri, Hallim-eup, Jeju City, one house at each address. Among the twenty-four Tessipon-style houses currently existing in the Jeju area, they boast the longest history. Tessipon refers to a building style inspired by the arch structures of the ancient Iraqi city ruins of Ctesiphon. The Cultural Heritage Administration explained, "Tessipon-style houses in Jeju Island were constructed by framing an arch shape with wood and then applying cement mortar to create the skeleton. Inside, walls were built with blocks to form spaces."

Father McGrinch is said to have devised the Tessipon-style house due to a shortage of building materials while pioneering a ranch in the mid-mountain area. He utilized the mechanical properties of plates to transform the shell into an arch shape. The ranch's name, Isidore, was taken from Isidore, a Spanish Catholic saint. The Cultural Heritage Administration commented, "This is a valuable modern architectural heritage that shows not only the flow of collective housing in the modern era but also traces of ranch pioneering and housing history in Jeju Island."