Did anyone else think the house looked very European?

Everything was done by specific design by the production team, nothing was done just willy-nilly. The wallpaper we see in the opening credits is the same wallpaper we see in the house. Even the closet that kills two people was searched for in antique stores till they found the exact piece that suited the film. You would probably love to listen to the additional commentary by the lighting guy / set designer on the DVD.

So to answer your question: the house and furnishings and much of the clothing was designed specifically to have a gothic or Victorian-Edwardian feel to it, perhaps to add a sense of claustrophobia to the film. Just think if the entire movie was filmed in a city location at a modern looking house. Ew. lol

There are houses in Korea that look "Western". I've lived in Korea for more than five years and I've seen houses like this outside of Seoul in more rural areas. Often times, these sorts of Western-looking houses are built as pensions (places families stay on random weekends when they travel around Korea and can rent rooms).

This is an interesting question. As I am originally from South Korea, I will tell you what I know about this subject. Granted, I left the country many years ago as a child, but some of my experience should still be valid.

We were a big family -- parents, five kids, plus 2 housekeepers. The house itself was a 2-story building which was completely western style on the outside (in a boxy, general sort of way -- not any particular architectural style), but with a mixed interior. The ground floor had a central hallway/porch like all traditional Korean houses had, and which have been adapted to modern houses. If you watch K-dramas you're probably familiar with this feature. In summer it doubles as an extra 'room' that's open to the outside via a small enclosed courtyard. Family dinners were eaten here, although different family members may also have small tables brought to their rooms. Accessible from this area were my parents' master bedroom, a smaller room for myself, another room for the housekeepers, and the kitchen. The bath (separate from the toilet) was equipped with a Japanese-style tub and a shower. The downstairs rooms were heated from underneath, in the traditional Korean style. Oh, and the housekeepers' room had a big wardrobe, not unlike the one in the movie^^.

Upstairs my brothers and sister had their rooms, and there was another large room where my father used to receive guests (a combination of a study and a parlor, except for being on the upper floor instead of the usual downstairs location). All of these rooms were decorated in western fashion and the siblings slept in beds, not on the floor. The roof was completely flat and had a sturdy wall all around, so it doubled as a kind of third floor where I could play in the open air without going outside.

We were probably somewhere in the middle to upper-middle class spectrum, my father being an exec in a big company. In primary school I had a few friends from similar economic situations whose houses I visited, and they mostly lived in similar style housing (that is, 'Koreanized' western architecture); but one of them lived in a large house that was all traditional -- a broad, single story building with a high wall facing the street and a curved, tile-covered roof, with the main rooms ringed around the wooden-floor 'porch', a separate kitchen, and a front and a back courtyard. There was a small koi pond in the front courtyard.

When I visited my cousin in Seoul a few years ago, her house consisted of two hillside buildings connected by a walkway. The main building had a traditional gate with a Chinese inscription in her father's hand, but inside it was completely modern/western. Then you walked over to the annex, which was new but deliberately built in the old style, with a wonderful view down the hillside neighborhood of Samcheongdong. I also visited my uncle and his wife, who are both retired and live in a 12th-floor modern apartment in a big complex. This is how half the population of South Korea live today -- land is so scarce and population density is so high that the only way to build is vertical, and there are huge apartment complexes (these are actually more like our condos, as you own, not rent, your unit) everywhere. Thankfully, now that the country is prosperous and people have the wherewithall to think about design and aesthetics, not just utility, the new apartment buildings are being built with an eye for beauty, and the old-fashioned Korean architecture is making a comeback, with modern improvements like efficient insulation and multi-story units.