Ononsa Guesthouse

On his journeys south to visit the tomb of his father, Crown Prince Sado, King Jeongjo rested at this old government guesthouse in Gwacheon and found it so pleasant that he gave it a name of its own. The building, sitting at the foot of Gwanaksan, recalls the days when Gwacheon was the first county on the main road south from Hanyang, today's Seoul.

What a gaeksa was

Every Joseon county had a gaeksa, a guesthouse that held a tablet symbolising the king. On the first and fifteenth day of each month the local magistrate bowed before it. It also lodged officials travelling on government business, so it stood in the centre of town and was built with due formality. Ononsa follows the classic layout: a three-bay central hall flanked by three-bay wings on either side, with the central roof raised slightly above the others.

A name from the king

The present building was put up in 1649, the 27th year of King Injo, by the Gwacheon magistrate Yeo In-hong. After King Jeongjo moved his father's tomb to Suwon and renamed it Hyeollyungwon, he stopped here on his way to pay his respects. In 1790, having rested very comfortably, he named the guesthouse Ononsa (穩穩舍), "the house of beautiful views and bodily ease". The magistrate's office next door was named Burimheon, after an old name for Gwacheon, and both name boards are said to be in Jeongjo's own hand.

A town on the royal road

The road south from Hanyang reached Gwacheon as soon as it crossed the Namtaeryeong Pass, so Gwacheon was the first county that travellers to the southern provinces passed through, and Jeongjo's processions to Hyeollyungwon passed this way too. In the late Joseon period the county office and the guesthouse stood together here. Only the guesthouse survives, but this 187 m² building still marks the old administrative heart of the town. Look for the Ononsa name board under the eaves of the central hall, and notice how its roof rises a step above the two wings, a hallmark of gaeksa architecture.

A guesthouse on the move

Under King Gojong, in the late 19th century, the building also served as the Gwacheon county office. It originally stood on the site of the former Jungang-dong community office and was moved to its present spot in 1986. It had been designated a Gyeonggi-do Tangible Cultural Heritage on 2 June 1980. Beside the guesthouse stands a ginkgo tree more than 600 years old, and in autumn its golden leaves set off the painted eaves beautifully.

Tripto tips

• Time needed: 20 to 30 minutes is enough for the building and the ginkgo. Admission is free.
• When to go: autumn, when the ginkgo turns yellow.
• Getting there: about 600 m, or a walk of around 10 minutes, from Gwacheon Station on Seoul Subway Line 4. The address is 58 Gwanaksan-gil, Gwacheon.
• On foot: the Hanyang Gwanmun-gil section of the Samnam-gil, one of Gyeonggi's historic roads (Namtaeryeong marker to the Indeogwon site, 9.7 km, about 2 hours 30 minutes), passes Ononsa and Gwacheon Hyanggyo. It starts near Exit 2 of Namtaeryeong Station on Line 4, so you can follow part of Jeongjo's royal route on foot.
• Nearby: the Gwanaksan trailheads and Gwacheon Hyanggyo, a Joseon-era Confucian school listed as Gyeonggi-do Cultural Heritage Material, are close by, so Ononsa makes an easy stop before or after a hike.