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Seokjojeon () is a former imperial palace building of the Korean Empire located inside the palace Deoksugung in Seoul, South Korea. The main building is a Western-style neoclassical château made entirely of granite and bricks. It was completed in 1910 as a residence for the Korean royal family and now serves as the Daehan Empire History Museum. The building also has an adjacent West Wing that was completed in 1938 and now serves as the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Deoksugung branch.
The main building was originally meant to serve as a modern, Western seat of the Korean Empire. British people designed and furnished the building in Western style. Months after the building's completion, Korea was annexed by Japan. The Korean royal family continued to live in and use the building until the 1919 death of Gojong, the penultimate Korean monarch. Afterwards, it came to be used to entertain and house Japanese dignitaries. It was then made into the Seokjojeon Art Museum in 1933. Upon the completion of the West Wing building, both buildings were together considered the .
After the 1945 liberation of Korea, the buildings served a number of purposes. The main building was heavily damaged during the 1950–1953 Korean War and then repaired. In 1998, the West Wing was made part of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. In the late 2000s, the main building began to be converted into the Daehan Empire History Museum, which opened in 2014.
As part of efforts to establish the Daehan Empire History Museum, historical materials were used to recreate as much of the interior as possible to match the original appearance of the building. Rooms for which there is no known surviving evidence have been turned into exhibits on the Korean Empire.
The interior is decorated in the Rococo style, which was popular in the 17th and 18th centuries. White and gold elements are used throughout the building. The original color scheme of much of the interior is reportedly unknown, as surviving photos are in black and white. In 2023, South Korean scholar Choi Ji-hye performed an analysis of the original interior decorator's other projects and determined that the main audience chamber was decorated with green curtains and carpet, in contrast to the current recreation's red.
All of the furniture was from Messrs Maple & Co. The company was popular with royal and luxury residences in a number of countries, including Thailand and Japan. Maple later described their work in the building as "a characteristically English interior". The building has a total of 41 original pieces of furniture that date to the Korean Empire period. Some of the furniture are reproductions or antiques that were purchased. A table in the central lobby is original and is considered the most luxurious original object in the palace. It was kept in the palace Changdeokgung until it was moved back to Seokjojeon. The building features Western-style heating elements and lighting made by the British Crittall Windows. It has a number of electrified .
The main building has three floors: one below ground and two above. The building's main entrance on the second floor goes in to a central lobby (), with an open ceiling to the third floor. Across the central lobby is the audience chamber (). That room's ceiling is in the Palladian style. The audience chamber had several columns that were removed in the 1930s at the latest, which later caused structural integrity issues. The ceiling is around a third lower than its original height due to support beams that were added after the Korean War. The room has large mirrors that were placed to reflect the lights and create a dazzling effect. It is decorated with plum blossoms, a symbol of the Korean Empire. The second floor originally had seven rooms (excluding the staircase rooms). The third floor originally had four rooms. One room was intended for use by Gojong; he never ended up using it and instead stayed in , elsewhere in Deoksugung. Instead, Yi Un used the room during his visits to Korea from Japan until 1922. The basement floor was used by servants. It is not known what the basement floor looked like; there are no surviving records on its appearance.
After the completion of the building, work began on building the front garden. Davidson oversaw this task, which was eventually completed in March 1913 and cost 50,000 won. The garden included hundreds of trees donated by Yoshino Tazaemon (吉野太左衛門), the chief of the newspaper Keijō nippō, and a greenhouse with 1,200 bonzai trees. A pond with a turtle sculpture, symbolizing a wish for Gojong's long life, was installed.
In spring 1933, the Office of the Yi Dynasty decided that the building for the in Changgyeonggung was too small and wished to move their collection to Deoksugung. Work began to convert Seokjojeon to an art museum. The main hall and audience chamber were more or less kept in the same state; other rooms experienced varying degrees of modification. The Seokjojeon Art Museum opened on October 1. The second floor displayed Japanese and Western paintings, and the third crafts. There was reportedly resentment about the lack of Korean works of art being displayed in the museum. From August 21, 1936, to 1938, the three-story West Wing was constructed. This wing would hold the Office of the Yi Dynasty's collection. It was designed by the Japanese architect 中村與志平. Together, these buildings became the . Seokjojeon continued to display modern Japanese art, and was called the 4=. A writer for the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture evaluated the museum as being designed to juxtapose "old" Korean art with "modern" Japanese art in order to justify Japan's colonial rule.
In 1950, during the Korean War, the interior of the building was destroyed by fire. The building's original wooden roof trusses were severely damaged and were replaced with steel trusses. An October 30, 1950 article in Seoul Shinmun estimated the damages to the buildings as 8 million won. Restoration work on the buildings began in 1955 by the Army Corps of Engineers (). Afterwards, the buildings began to be used as museums again. The Yi Royal Family Art Museum was made the Deoksugung Art Museum and was managed by the South Korean government (under a predecessor to the Korea Heritage Service) without much involvement from the Jeonju Lee Royal Family Association (the successor organization to the Office of the Yi Dynasty). In 1969, the museum was incorporated into the national museum system. The buildings were used as part of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art from July 1973 until 1986. The West Wing was then occupied by the National Institute of Korean Language until 1998.
In 1987, significant renovation work on the main Seokjojeon building began. The project was designed by Geumseong Construction () and construction was performed by Hyundai Engineering & Construction. The floorplan of the building was altered, with several walls being removed or added. The building's support structure was modernized and reinforced.
Beginning in 2003, inspections revealed that the main Seokjojeon building had a number of safety issues. Cracks were found in the building, and it was determined that the roof was too heavy for the building's structure, and that the building had been suffering from weather conditions. Investigation work concluded in 2005, and repair work began in December 2006. Work was completed in August 2007.
The museum opened on October 13, 2014. In 2020, amidst the building's closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cultural Heritage Administration began offering virtual tours of Seokjojeon. Various events and concerts have since been held in the building, including classical musical performances. Night at Seokjojeon is a biannual annual event held in the spring and fall at the building. Visitors purchase tickets in advance and receive refreshments, listen to live music, and see a performance at the building.
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