Situated around one kilometre from the Museum, the Former President Kaysone Phomvihane Memorial Museum Historic Area is located at Ban Sivilay within the compound of the Central Committee of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP), an area which functioned during the 1960s and early 1970s as the headquarters of USAID. After 1975 several US-built prefabricated wooden houses within this compound became the headquarters of the Politburo and Prime Minister Kaysone Phomvihane lived and worked here from 1975 to 1978. From 1978 until his death in 1992 he and his family were provided with a house close to the Lao People’s Army Museum but he continued to work and occasionally stayed at Ban Sivilay. After the President's death the area was restored in period style and opened to the public on 13 December 1994, the late President's birthday. Guides (Lao-speaking only) are on hand to lead visitors through the various areas, which include (i) Office accommodation with a reception area, office, conference room and library, and (ii) Living accommodation with a dining room, lounge area and bedrooms. Nearby are a herb garden where Kaysone tended his medicinal herbs, an exercise yard where he kept fit, a Russian-style wooden sauna building donated by the Soviet government, the original Central Committee Meeting Room which was later turned into a reception hall, and a wooden building in which the President spent the last months of his life, tended by doctors. NB since this site is located within the Central Committee compound and staff do not speak English, visitors are recommended to arrange a local guide who can call in advance of the visit to arrange the necessary clearance at the gate.