Marilyn Monroe’s iconic $8.3 million Los Angeles home was saved from demolition and declared a “historical cultural monument.”
The Brentwood mansion was to be demolished by its owners, next-door neighbors Roy Bank and Brinah Milstein, who hoped to use the land to expand their property.
The couple took over the property in July 2023 and obtained a demolition permit, but conservationists and fans of the late actress quickly objected.
On Wednesday, a motion to protect the house by granting it historic landmark status passed unanimously after being introduced by Councilwoman Traci Park last year.
“There is no other person or place in the city of Los Angeles as iconic as Marilyn Monroe and her home in Brentwood,” Park said. “Losing this piece of history, the only home Monroe ever owned, would be a devastating blow to historic preservation.”
Marilyn Monroe’s iconic $8.3 million home in Los Angeles was saved from demolition and declared a “historical cultural monument”
Monroe purchased the Spanish Colonial-style home in 1962 for $75,000 and died there six months later of an apparent drug overdose at the age of 36.
Television producer Bank and real estate heir Milstein argued that the house should not be designated as a landmark due to the brevity of the star’s stay there.
In May they sued the city for acting unconstitutionally to preserve the house, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Milstein and Bank argued that the house has undergone another near-total transformation since Monroe occupied it.
“There is not a single piece of the house that includes any physical evidence that Ms. Monroe ever spent a day in the house, not a piece of furniture, not a piece of paint, not a rug, nothing,” the lawsuit said, according to New York Times.
The house has changed hands at least 14 times since Monroe’s death and has been the subject of numerous renovations about which the city “has taken no action regarding the now supposed ‘historic’ or ‘cultural’ status of the house,” the lawsuit states.
However, a judge denied their request for an injunction to stop the historic designation.
A conference will be held on August 13 to set a trial for the pending lawsuit, The New York Times reports.
Monroe purchased the Spanish Colonial-style home in 1962 for $75,000 and died there six months later of an apparent drug overdose at the age of 36.
The Brentwood mansion was to be demolished by its owners, next-door neighbors Roy Bank and Brinah Milstein, who hoped to use the land to expand their property.
Marilyn Monroe’s $8.3 million Brentwood home could soon be demolished, as the Los Angeles City Council recently decided to delay a vote on the home’s fate.
It wasn’t just the couple who opposed the designation, locals, already fed up with tourists wandering through their neighbourhood, expressed concern that the status could lead to an influx of even more people.
Although the house on Fifth Helena Drive is not visible from the street, fans of the late icon often arrive by bus to lay flowers and try to peer beyond the hedges.
Residents reported “terrifying” encounters with devotees convinced they were related to Monroe or could find out more about the conspiracy theory that she was murdered.
Since 2013, the city’s inspection program has flagged the famous house as “potentially historic,” but at no point in the past 11 years has it merited the upgrade.
One possible solution that was mooted was to relocate the house, allowing the current owners to continue their development.
The property was the first home she owned alone after the end of her third marriage to playwright Arthur Miller.
Monroe poses outside her home in 1962, it was the only property she ever bought and owned.
The bed in which Monroe overdosed on August 4, 1962
The American actress, model and singer was found dead in her bedroom in August 1962.
The cause of death was ruled to be acute poisoning by barbiturates, a type of depressant.
At the time, Monroe was at the peak of her fame and was the most recognizable woman in the world.