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Location90, Dangsan-ro Buan-eup, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do
- CategoryCultural Heritage / Tangible Cultural Heritage
- Korean구 부안금융조합
- Chinese舊扶安金融組合
- FieldHistory / Modern
- Contents TypeHistoric Site / Building
- Current Location90, Dangsan-ro Buan-eup, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do
- Definition
- A building of a banking institution dating back to the period of the Japanese colonial rule in the early twentieth century, located in Dongjung-ri, Buan-eup, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do.
- Summary
- The financial cooperatives were established to offer financial support to people who needed it according to the Banking Ordinance promulgated in 1907 by the government of Daehan Empire (1897-1910). The key responsibilities of the cooperatives ranged from loan services and savings to periodical deposits and cargo storage services. As the performance of the institutions was judged to be poor, the Office of the Resident-General issued two more ordinances, namely “The Regulations on Local Financial Cooperatives” and “Ordinance for the Establishment of Local Financial Cooperatives”. The Local Financial Cooperative of Gwangju was established in 1907, followed by a succession of other institutions, reaching 130 by 1910 and, finally, 912 by 1945. The Act on Financial Cooperatives enacted in 1918 stipulated a change in the name of these institutions from “Local Financial Cooperatives” to “Financial Cooperatives”, and these latter remained active until their dissolution in 1956, when they were replaced by the Agricultural Bank, the predecessor of today's NongHyup, or NACF.
The Buan Financial Cooperative was originally established in 1912 when Korea was under Japanese colonial rule, although no one knows exactly when this building was built. However, the building’s architectural features suggest that it was built before the mid-1920s, probably in 1912. It initially housed the Buan Financial Cooperative, which was used by the Japanese colonialists as a tool to exploit the crops, rice in particular, and land of Buan and Gimje, two of Korea's major granaries at that time.
- Location
- The former Buan Financial Cooperative building is located in front of the Buan-gun Office at #90m Dangsan-ro, Buan-eup, Buan-gun.
- Origins and Development
- While little is known about its origins, the former Buan Financial Cooperative building is generally known to have been built during the colonial period. It was originally used as the office of the Buan Financial Cooperative, which was established while Korea was under Japanese colonial rule, but it was converted into the office of the Buan Agricultural Cooperative after Korea’s liberation in 1945. It was also briefly used as the office of the Buan-gun administration until the completion of its new office building.
According to a property registration dated to 1960, the office building had a total floor area of 155㎡. Sometime after that, however, two annexes were added to the main building, one located to its rear left, which was used a meeting room (floor area: 33㎡), and one located behind the first, which was used as an office. According to the registration dated 1970, the second annex was a two-story, reinforced concrete structure with a corrugated iron roof and a floor area of 132.23㎡. According to the registration dated 1971, a third annex consisting of a reinforced concrete structure with corrugated asbestos roofing and a floor area of 43㎡ was finally added to the building.
- Layout and Structure
- The former Buan Financial Cooperative building consists of a u-shaped layout in which the main structure is flanked by two annexes. The main entrance to the building is a central porch which is linked by corridors on both its sides with all the rooms, including those of the annex buildings. The main building is mainly filled with offices, while the left wing consists of a small meeting room and a storeroom, and the right wing a storeroom and restrooms. While it is outwardly a single-story structure, there is a basement under the left annex containing an office and a storeroom.
The building consists largely of three parts, i.e. the roof, a main body composed of windows and walls, and the lower part. The building’s façade shows the walls projected like columns, with canopies built above them, and a projected roof, highlighting that it is the principal face of the building. The façade features three pairs of hung windows on each side, each pair consisting of ten small panes of glass arranged in two rows of five, and walls finished with sprayed cement mortar. The main building and left wing feature a traditional hip-and-gable type of roof covered with corrugated asbestos cement sheets, while the building housing the bank vault has a flat roof. As for the right wing, it has a gable roof with corrugated asbestos cement sheets, and a pair of airflow windows at the center of each gable.
The rear face of the main building has four pairs of hung windows, but there is no opening on the wall of the bank vault; whereas the rear face of the annex building on the right has three pairs of wooden windows. The main building is an unreinforced brick masonry structure with wooden frames, while the annexes are concrete block structures, each with a basement made of reinforced concrete. The newly extended part of the right annex is also a reinforced concrete structure. As for the roof structures, the main building and the left wing consist of wooden king post trusses, although they differ slightly in style. The bank vault is a reinforced concrete slab structure, while its extension on the right is a simple wooden truss structure.
- Current Status
- The former Buan Financial Cooperative building (original floor area: 155.93㎡) is currently unoccupied, but there are plans to convert it into a museum of the history and culture of Buan. As the original structures are relatively well preserved, the building was designated as National Registered Cultural Heritage No. 177 on June 18, 2005.
- Historical Significance
- The former Buan Financial Cooperative building is a significant historical heritage of Buan related with the dark days of the colonial period, during which the Japanese colonialists used the institution as a tool to exploit the land and the rice harvested in the fields of Buan and Gimje, one of Korea's largest granaries. The building is now regarded as a key element of Buan's architectural heritage, providing a valuable lesson about the area’s painful past.