Marilyn Monroe’s LA home saved from demolition

Marilyn Monroe’s Brentwood Home Designated as Historic LandmarkMarilyn Monroe’s Brentwood Home Designated as Historic Landmark On June 26, 2024, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved the designation of Marilyn Monroe’s former home in Brentwood as a Historic Cultural Landmark. The landmark status is intended to protect the property from demolition. Monroe resided in the four-bedroom Spanish Colonial-style house, built in 1929, for approximately six months before her tragic death by drug overdose in 1962. The LA Conservancy, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving architectural heritage, noted in its proposal that the house represented a significant milestone in Monroe’s life as it was “the first place she sought out and purchased for herself and alone while actively working in 1962.” Owners Brinah Milstein and Roy Bank, who purchased the property in 2023 for $8.35 million, had initially planned to demolish the house to expand their adjacent property. However, they faced a year-long legal battle against the city to prevent the historical designation, which they argued would attract excessive visitors. The owners claimed that the house had undergone substantial alterations, rendering it ineligible for landmark status. They also alleged that the city engaged in “backroom dealings” to secure the designation. The case is scheduled for trial on August 13, 2024. Despite the owners’ objections, the City Council voted 12-0 in favor of protecting the property. The designation subjects the house to a rigorous review process before any potential demolition could be considered. Council member Traci Park emphasized the importance of preserving the iconic home: “We have an opportunity today to do something that should have been done 60 years ago. There is no other person or place in the city of Los Angeles as iconic as Marilyn Monroe and her home in Brentwood.”

Marilyn Monroe’s home in Los Angeles’ Brentwood neighborhood was approved Wednesday as a Historic Cultural Landmark nomination by the Los Angeles City Council, a designation intended to help protect the monument from demolition.

“GREAT NEWS, the nomination for Marilyn Monroe Residence HCM was approved by the full City Council on June 26, 2024,” the LA Conservancy wrote on its website.

Monroe lived in the four-bedroom Spanish Colonial-style house, built in 1929, for about six months and died there in 1962 of an apparent drug overdose. The LA Conservancy wrote in its proposal for landmark status that the house was “the first place she sought out and purchased for herself and alone while actively working in 1962.”

An aerial view of the Brentwood home where Marilyn Monroe died.
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Owners Brinah Milstein and her husband, reality TV producer Roy Bank, bought the house last year for $8.35 million and planned to demolish it to expand their property next door. They waged a year-long battle to stop the historic designation, which they said would lead to more nuisance visitors. The owners have sued the city, accusing officials of “backroom dealings,” and the case is set to go to trial on August 13. The owners claim that the house has been irreparably altered and that there is no longer any evidence that Monroe lived. there, so they claim that it does not meet the criteria for a historical cultural monument.

The council vote was 12-0 in favor of adding the house to properties of historic significance, and was supported by the council’s land use management subcommittee and the Cultural Heritage Commission. While the designation does not completely prevent the demolition of a property, the status subjects it to a strict review process if demolition is proposed.

LA City Council member Traci Park said before the vote, “We have an opportunity today to do something that should have been done 60 years ago. There is no other person or place in the city of Los Angeles as iconic as Marilyn Monroe and her home in Brentwood.”