조선시대 양반과 양인(良人) 사이의 신분이었던 중인(中人)은 서울에 주로 살았던 전문직 종사자였는데, 중인들의 종가는 알려진 곳이 없으며, 거주지도 확실한 곳이 많지 않았다. 옥계사(송석원시사) 주인 천수경(千壽慶)의 집터만 추사 김정희가 써준 바위글씨 송석원(松石園)의 위치를 확인하여 종로구 옥인동 47번지 일대로 확정할 뿐이었다.
서울시에서 종로구 필운동 88-1번지에 있는 문화재 급의 한옥을 매입하여 보수하고, 민속문화재 제33호로 지정하여 홍건익가옥(洪建翊家屋)으로 명명하였다. 홍건익이 어떤 인물인지 확인할 만한 기록이 없는데, (구)토지대장과 (구)가옥대장을 확인한 결과 이 집터에는 홍건익 이전에 고영주(高永周)가 살았음이 확인되었다.
고영주는 한어(漢語) 역관이며, 그의 형제들은 한어와 일어(日語) 역관, 영어(英語) 번역관으로 활동하였다. 형제와 조카들도 필운대 주변의 옥동, 통동에 거주하며 역관이나 외교관으로 활동하여, 서촌(西村)이 중인 역관들의 거주지라는 통설이 입증되었다. 고영주 형제는 개화기에 역관으로 활동하며 외래 문물을 적극적으로 받아들였고, 고영철의 아들 고희동은 한국 최초의 화가로 활동하였다. 이들 형제를 비롯한 중인들의 자료는 전기(傳記), 시문(詩文), 기행문(紀行文), 편지(便紙) 등이 방대한 분량으로 남아 있는데, 이들 자료를 데이터베이스를 구축하여 연구자와 일반 시민들에게 제공할 필요가 있다.
중인 고영주의 집터에 세워진 홍건익가옥을 중인자료관으로 활용하여 다양한 중인 데이터베이스를 검색할 수 있는 중인 연구의 기지로 삼기를 제안한다. 일반시민들에게는 흥미로운 디지털 중인전시관으로도 공개할 수 있다.
The class system in the Chos?n dynasty was divided into the three grades: aristocrats(yangban, 兩班), commoners(yangin, 良人), and base people(ch’?nin, 賤人). However, some middle people(chungin, 中人) responsible for professional services lived in the capital of Seoul. In contrast to the yangban who were selected for jobs through the military and civil service examination(munmukwa, 文武科), they took the miscellaneous examination(雜科) to become interpreters(譯官,) physicians(醫員), and lawyers(律士) or the technical examination(取才) to become court painters (畵員), musicians(樂工), accountants(算員), and lower clerks(書吏). Interpreters lived in Inwangsan’s S?ch’on(西村) for convenient access to the Office of Interpreters (司譯院) or in Chongno to easily sell merchandise.
Since the city of Seoul issued its ‘Statement on Seoul Hanok’ in 2008 and encouraged its denizens to build hanok, it also purchased hanok from owners who wished to sell them and used them as ‘public hanok.’ Although the city purchased a site of 740.5㎡ with a hanok of 142.14㎡ in Chongno-ku P’irun-dong No. 88-1, the city petitioned to have the building designated as a cultural heritage as it was a beautiful building over eighty years old. This hanok was outfitted with a doorway, servants’ quarters, guesthouse, and main building, complete with a taeg?k symbol on its walls; thus it was designated as Seoul’s Cultural Heritage No. 33. The public name of the building was ‘The House of Hong G?nik (Hong G?nik kaok, 洪建翊家屋)’ but all we know today is that someone by the name of Hong G?nik built the house; his identity remains a complete mystery.
In the process of verifying the building’s land and house registries, I found that the first owner of the site was Ko Y?ngju. The land registry notes that the land was assessed for taxation purposes, demonstrating that Ko had already been living there at the time that Korea’s modern land registry was first compiled in 1912. Since the house registry states that Hong first started building his house there in 1934, it is unclear as to when Ko first built his own house. The site of Ko’s house was known as the biggest in S?ch’on at 467 p’y?ng (1543.8㎡), and then partitioned into today’s area of 224 p’y?ng (740.5㎡) after Hong.
If the letters exchanged between Chos?n interpreters and Chinese and Japanese literati are to be studied through this method, we will then be able to observe cultural exchange in 18-19thcentury East Asia in a single glance. If the interpreter KoY?ngju’s residence is used as a digital chungin source archive, then the evidence of East Asian cultural exchange in the form of travelogues, letters, Classical Chinese poetry, and paintings can be seen digitally, and joint studies between scholars of different nations in diverse ways will be feasible, all in the house of a 19thcentury interpreter.