The warm summer weather is great for getting out of Seoul to see palaces, river parks, and even the world’s most famous toilet‑shaped house.
Just south of the city in Suwon, the Suwon toilet museum, better known as Mr. Toilet House, turns bathroom humor into a surprisingly fun and thoughtful day out.
The late owner nicknamed his custom‑built home “Mr. Toilet House,” and today it’s officially run as the Haewoojae Museum by Suwon City.
From Seoul it’s easy to reach by subway to Suwon Station and a short local bus or taxi ride, so it works well as a quick side trip.
Sim Jae‑duck, who passed away in 2009, was mayor of Suwon from 1995 to 2002 and had a lifelong fascination with toilets and public hygiene.
He helped launch the Korea Toilet Association and later the World Toilet Association, using toilets as a quirky way to get people talking about sanitation.
Sim called his custom‑constructed house “Mr. Toilet House” and gave it the Korean name Haewoojae (해우재), partly inspired by haewooso, or temple toilet.
Literally, Haewoojae means a house where a person can relieve worries, not just their bladder, capturing his belief that good toilets bring comfort and dignity.
After his death, the family donated the property to the city, and it reopened as a public museum in 2010 with free admission for visitors.
Since then, Haewoojae has become a small but memorable stop for school groups, families, and curious travelers exploring Gyeonggi‑do.
There are plenty of visual oddities inside, including a “golden poop” created with children’s artwork and displays on toilet history from Korea and abroad.
The house’s centrally located commode features glass walls that turn opaque when the door is locked, so even the bathroom itself doubles as an exhibit.
Outdoors you’ll find a sculpture park dotted with statues of little children on toilets and a giant squatter with a huge brown mosaic swirl that is impossible not to photograph.
Speaking of poop: the staff leading English‑friendly tours are never shy about using the word, and the inevitable giggles actually help break the ice around a taboo topic.
Behind the jokes lies a serious message, as the exhibits point out that unsafe toilets and poor sanitation still contribute to well over a million preventable deaths every year worldwide.
Raising awareness for universal sanitation—with enough humor to cut through embarrassment—was one of Sim’s goals in life, and it remains the mission of the quirky house he left behind.
Address: 9 Jangan‑ro 458beon‑gil, Jangan‑gu, Suwon‑si, Gyeonggi‑do, South Korea (Haewoojae Museum / Mr. Toilet House).
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Looking for other crazy places and activities after the Suwon toilet museum? Check out 10 Mag’s 12 Unique Things To Do In Seoul for more offbeat ideas.
