Restoration of Seoul City Council Clock Tower After 50 Years

City Council Main Building 'Rediscovering Old Seoul' Clock Tower Restoration, Unveiling Ceremony on 28th... Three Clocks Installed on 3 Sides of 46.6m Building, Preserving Original Design and Adding Self-Luminous Feature for Night Visibility

The 46.6m Seoul City Council clock tower, built in 1935 and having witnessed 40 years of turbulent history before disappearing around 1975, has been restored after nearly 50 years. This restoration enhances the cultural value of the Council’s main building (the former Seoul National Assembly building), which was registered as National Registered Cultural Heritage No. 11 in May 2002.

The Seoul City Council (Chairman Kim Hyun-gi) announced that, in collaboration with the cultural heritage civic group Discovery of Korea, they have restored the clock tower of the Council’s main building as part of the ‘Rediscovering Old Seoul’ project, and will hold an unveiling ceremony on the 28th (Monday) to open it to the public.

The unveiling ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. on the 28th in front of the Council’s main building. Attendees are expected to include Chairman Kim Hyun-gi, Vice Chairmen Nam Chang-jin and Woo Hyung-chan, standing committee chairpersons, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, Discovery of Korea representative Jeong Pyo-chae, and Shinhan Bank President Jung Sang-hyuk.

The clock towers will be installed on three sides of the nine-story main building of the Council. While preserving the original design as much as possible, a self-illuminating feature has been added to ensure visibility at night.

Shinhan Bank, the Seoul City treasury bank, is reported to have donated a significant amount for the installation of the clock towers.

Chairman Kim Hyun-gi of the Seoul City Council said, “Although the Council’s main building is a nationally registered cultural heritage recognized for its turbulent modern history, its value as a cultural asset has been somewhat under-realized. Since late last year, there have been internal discussions about finding historical utilization value, and fortunately, this year a cultural heritage civic group proposed a designated donation for the clock installation, which accelerated the process.”

He added, “In connection with the clock tower restoration, we also removed the existing large Council emblem and signage to break away from an authoritative image and create a Council that approaches citizens. Just as famous cities around the world have iconic clock towers?such as Big Ben at the UK Parliament in London and the Munich City Hall clock tower in Germany?we hope the Seoul City Council clock tower will become a representative clock tower of Seoul and a tourist attraction visited by citizens and tourists alike.”

The Council’s main building was originally constructed in December 1935 during the Japanese colonial period as a performance facility called ‘Bumin-gwan.’ It is a rare concrete structure from that era and holds various historical stories from Korea’s modernization process, making it a modern cultural heritage asset.

‘Bumin-gwan’ was completed in December 1935 and hosted various performances. After liberation, it was briefly used by the U.S. military government and then as the National Theater.

From 1954 to 1975, before the National Assembly moved to Yeouido, it served as the National Assembly building of the Republic of Korea. From 1976 until 1991, before local governments were implemented, it was used as an annex of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, and since 1991, it has been used as the Seoul City Council main building.

It is not yet clear when or why the clock tower was dismantled, but based on existing photographs, it is estimated to have been removed around 1975.

In June, the cultural heritage civic group Discovery of Korea proposed a designated donation to the Council for installing a clock on the main building as part of the ‘Rediscovering Old Seoul’ project.

Subsequently, internal reviews within the Council, Seoul City donation screening (June), consultations with cultural heritage committee members (two national and two Seoul city members) in July, and advice from the Seoul Design Foundation were conducted.

The Council confirmed through the National Archives that the original design documents showed a clock was installed on the clock tower from the beginning. Using recent photographic materials, they estimated the clock’s operation method and appearance, drawing up a blueprint for the clock installation.

Although the clock installation was not legally required to undergo cultural heritage alteration reviews, advice was sought from cultural heritage committee members recommended by the Cultural Heritage Administration and Seoul City, along with additional consultations and feedback from the Seoul Design Foundation, to finalize the clock installation plan.

The final clock installation plan preserves the original design confirmed at the time as much as possible, while incorporating visibility, site specificity, and historicity, adding some modern elements and enabling self-illumination for enhanced nighttime visibility. ※ Clock installation overview: three sides at the top (3 locations), 4.0m diameter, electronic GPS system, self-illuminating (LED)

Chairman Kim Hyun-gi said, “We expect this to be a good example of public-private cooperation in cultural heritage preservation and management with cultural heritage organizations,” and added, “The Council will continue to discover and promote ways to preserve and utilize the historical value of the registered cultural heritage main building.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.