Joseon Images Korea's first foreign hotels in 1880s Jemulpo
Jemulpo in the late 1880s or early 1890s. Daibuts Hotel is the large multi-storied building in the center. / Robert Neff Collection
By Robert Neff
In the 1880s, Jemulpo (part of modern Incheon) was a thriving port bustling with merchants, a few curious tourists from steamships and large numbers of sailors from foreign warships which visited frequently.
The warship commanders would often allow their sailors to go ashore, explore and, generally, become quite drunk with the expectation they would return to the ship the following morning sober and on time. The sailors mostly behaved but the naval log books reveal there were some who ran afoul of the rules. Most were charged with insubordination, drunkenness, fighting with sailors from other warships or being absent without leave. Their punishments were usually confinement in double irons for a couple days with a diet of bread and water and, in severe cases, demotions.
One of the sailors' most popular drinking spots, found in the General Foreign Settlement, was at the “spacious but somewhat barn-like structure bearing the imposing title of Hotel de Corea.” It was also commonly called Steinbeck's Hotel ― named after its owner, an Austrian who may have been named Joseph or Isaac Steinbeck.
This two-story building feigned a degree of elegance and charm. It had a large parlor room, at least one pool table and, unlike other establishments in Jemulpo, had two Austrian women serving the clientele ― Steinbeck's wife (nee Kamerling) and his sister-in-law, Hannah.
According to one early visitor, the hotel was “a favorite resort for sailors of men-of-war when they called at the port, partly because a drinking saloon, well provided with intoxicants of all descriptions, was the chief feature of the establishment, and partly because glasses were handed over the counter by a very fascinating young lady, [Hannah], a most accomplished damsel, who could speak fluently every language under the sun ― from Turkish and Arabic to Corean and Japanese.”
More than likely, the baser needs of the sailors had to be obtained in other establishments ― places like Harry's Hotel.
Harry's Hotel was a rougher place, located in the Chinese Settlement. It seems to have opened in 1884 and was, like many of the buildings in Jemulpo, two stories tall. The upper floor was made up of rooms of questionable comfort while the lower floor had a small general store and boasted a small bar complete with a pool table which was popular with the foreign employees of the Korean Customs Service.
It isn't clear how the hotel got its name. The establishment seems to have been owned by two Chinese men ― Shin and Sun ― and they employed a bartender named Thomas Hollingsworth. In fall 1887, Sun borrowed a large sum of money ― pledging the hotel and land as collateral ― to buy merchandise and then sold it, pocketing the money and fleeing to Shanghai. The hotel was closed and the property seized.
The building was likely sold to another Chinese man, Eu Don (Itai), who established his own hotel that was at first called Sea View Hotel but was better known as Steward's Hotel. Legend has it that Eu Don had served as a steward aboard the steamship that brought Lucius Foote, the first American representative, to Korea in 1883. Foote was so pleased with Eu Don that he offered him a position at the American legation in Seoul ― which was promptly accepted. For several years Eu Don worked faithfully for the legation but he quit in the late 1880s and started his hotel.
Eu Don was described by one patron as “an alert and reliable man … [who] proved a friend in need to many a traveler, doing everything he could with a ready good nature which disarmed criticism” of himself but not his establishment. All agreed Steward's Hotel was cheaper and provided better food than its chief competitor ― Daibuts Hotel.
Daibuts Hotel Advertisement circa 1889 / Robert Neff Collection
Daibuts Hotel was the first hotel in Jemulpo to serve Westerners and, like the others, was a two-story building. It was established in April 1884 in the Japanese Settlement by Hori Kintaro ― an obese and portentous man ― who declared “himself and his hotel by the name of the great Buddha at Kamakura ― Daibotzu!” A British diplomat was the hotel's first customer ― even before it was completed. The guest wrote: “From the front windows I commanded a view of the sea, and, through the floor, of my landlord and his friends.”
The hotel went on to become quite successful ― so successful, in fact, that it was rebuilt and enlarged in 1888. It outlasted its initial competitors but could not compete with the railroad and the better hotels in Seoul and was sold eventually and turned into a Chinese restaurant.
Robert Neff is a historian and columnist for The Korea Times. He can be reached at robertneff103@gmail.com.