This study set out to review the living spaces and family relationships of prominent families with a focus on 『Gwaheonilgi』(1662～1704) by Kim Sun-ui (1645～1714) from a prominent family in the Gyeongsang Province in the 18th century, examining the place where he was born and grew up, changes to his residence after marriage, and meaning of his tombs to his descendents after his death.
Prominent families changed their place of residence for various reasons, which can be divided into three patterns: they would be born and spend childhood years at the homes of their mothers' parents, growing up into adulthood back and forth between the homes of their mothers' parents and their fathers' parents. Marriage caused new changes to their place of residence. They secured a base through the homes of their wives' parents after marriage, which added a spousebased base to their parent-based base. They would then make use of both the base of their parents and that of their wives' parents in terms of residence, which showed no big difference from the residence patterns of prominent families during the former half of Joseon. Once their tombs were made after death, this also became an important base for their descendents. Under these conditions, the matter of where they would settle down was determined by the complex combination of ideas and economic environment. Since the latter part of the 18th century, they tended to choose a residence on the father's side under the same economic conditions. That is, the eldest son would live at the base on the father's side, and the second son or any son after the eldest son would move to the base on the mother's side. This explains why the residence of prominent families was gradually organized around the relatives on the father's side since the latter half of the 18th century.