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| A smoky alley in Seoul in 1912 Robert Neff Collection |
By Robert Neff
In the late 19th century, it wasn't uncommon for Seoul to be shrouded in smoke from the thousands and thousands of short chimneys that lined the streets. These chimneys were part of the ondol floor heating system. Horace Allen, an American missionary and later diplomat, spent two decades (1884-1904) in Korea and wrote several books about his experiences. He described ondol heating as:
"[A] system of flues is built leading from a fireplace (which fireplace also forms the kitchen in a small house) under the floor to a chimney which may be some feet from the building. Over these flues is laid a floor of flat limestone which is neatly cemented and finally covered with the thick rich oil paper of the country, thus making a tight floor through which the smoke is prevented from escaping into the white papered rooms."
Percival Lowell, another American, spent the winter of 1883/84 in Seoul, and was fascinated by everything around him ― including Korean homes. He noted the ondol fireplace was referred to as "the mouth" and peering into it was like looking into "the jaws of the dragon of Korean folklore." This fireplace was stuffed with brushwood which when lit allowed the smoke and heated air to escape into the subterranean labyrinth which honeycombed the entire foundation of the house.
Unlike most of his Western contemporaries, Lowell noted the differences in the styles of heating system. For those with money and power, the room's foundation consisted of:
"a set of short stone pillars, a foot or so high, placed symmetrically at intervals, support a single slab of stone, covering the whole area of the room. As the stone is a very good retainer of heat, it would be inconvenient for dwelling purposes if left bare, becoming too hot for comfort when the fire was kindled. Upon it, therefore, is put a layer of earth, and above this is laid an oil-paper floor. The single slab of stone renders this method an expensive one; but the pillars permit of a more thorough and uniform heating than is possible by the other ways."
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| Looking into "the mouth" of the ondol dragon in 2022 Courtesy of Yu Dong-geun |
For those of more moderate means, the foundation was an "arrangement of ribs of earth and small stones" and then covered with another layer of earth and an oil-paper floor. And, for the lower classes, the foundation was made entirely of earth with an oil-paper floor.
Unlike many Westerners, who slept in beds and cots, Lowell seems to have slept in the manner of his Korean hosts (albeit, his Korean hosts were noblemen and his housing was better than most) and declared the idea to be a "good one" as "the feet are warmed while the head is cool, and with a constant supply of fresh air nothing could be more healthy." However, not all homes had great ventilation ― especially the homes of the lower classes who "slowly roasted" in their box-like rooms.
He also mentioned something I recall from my own early years in Korea.
The residents of these homes also suffer from "the disadvantage of being a quarter of an hour behind time. The room does not even begin to get warm until you have passed through an agonizing interval of expectancy. Then it takes what seems forever to reach a comfortable temperature, passes this brief second of happiness before you have had time to realize that is has attained it, and continues mounting to unknown degrees in a truly alarming manner beyond the possibility of control."
A century later, many of Lowell's observations still ring true. As a young soldier, I often visited my Korean friends' houses and, invariably, their mothers would give me the seat of honor ― the hottest spot in the room. It wasn't all that uncommon to develop calluses in rather unexpected places due to the prolonged exposure to intense heat.
Like Lowell, I enjoyed waking up in the early mornings when the air was too cold to breathe but the floor and sleeping mats were toasty warm. However, the comfort of the ondol floor is disappearing rapidly in modern Korea ― replaced with beds, sofas and chairs. Electric heating pads with their programmable temperatures have replaced the adventurous uncertainty of the floor's temperature and the hot seat of honor is now a thing of the past.
Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books, including Letters from Joseon, Korea Through Western Eyes and Brief Encounters.
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