The house was built either around 1900 (according to the Gumi local government website). According to Cho, Park's father chose the site of the house because it was then nearly completely surrounded by dense forest, which removed the need to erect walls around the house. The
anchae was constructed facing north, in order to have the trees and a nearby hill block the wind. The
anbang was first rebuilt as another earthen thatched-roof structure. It was later demolished and replaced with a more modern brick-and-concrete structure in 1964, Kim's administration created a funding plan, whereby if 50 billion won in private donations was collected, the government would pay an additional 20 billion to fund the construction. However, the government retracted this plan in 2005, which led to a lawsuit. It eventually lost the lawsuit in 2008 and was made to reinstate the plan. However, by that point, only 10 billion had been raised. a man poured
paint thinner in the inside of the memorial hall and set it on fire. The inside of the building, including the portraits and dedications to Park and his wife, was destroyed. The fire singed the thatched roof of the
sarangchae, but was extinguished before significant damaged occurred. The fire was extinguished within ten minutes, and the man who lit it was arrested on the spot. The man stated that he had intended to retaliate against the Park family due to the emerging
Park Geun-hye corruption scandal around that time (that same scandal eventually led to
her impeachment). The man had a history of similar crimes; for example, in December 2012, he set fire to the birthplace of President
Roh Tae-woo and served an 18-month suspended prison term. He expressed no remorse for his actions. The government of Gumi then committed
₩90 million ($) to restoring the memorial. == Nearby memorials and controversy ==