Efforts are underway to save Marilyn Monroe’s Brentwood home from demolition

The only home Marilyn Monroe ever owned is slated for demolition, and a Los Angeles city council member hopes to turn the Brentwood property into a historic cultural landmark, helping to stop its destruction.

Councilwoman Traci Park plans to introduce a motion at Friday’s council meeting that would begin the process of declaring the property a historic cultural landmark.

The Marilyn Monroe fandom community has been devastated by the news that the house, where some of her personal touches remain, may no longer exist.

Scott Fortner of The Marilyn Monroe Collection is a lifelong fan, enthusiast, collector and considered an authority on the star. He said the Brentwood home marked a new beginning for her after her divorce from Arthur Miller. She purchased the property in 1962 for just over $77,000.

“This house is the equivalent of Graceland. It’s that place where people go to remember Marilyn and remember that she was happy here and really wanted to start something new – a new chapter in her life and just the fact that she died there in 1962,” Fortner said.

The actress died of an overdose in her home at the age of 36.

There have been several owners since 1962, and the property was recently purchased in 2017 for just over $7 million. The Los Angeles Times reported that it was sold to Glory of the Snow Trust for $8.35 million earlier this year.

Fortner said it has undergone a number of remodelings and renovations, but many of the aspects remain from Marilyn’s time there, including tiles on the front steps that read “Cursum Perficio,” Latin for “My journey ends here’.

Other tiles that Marilyn selected and installed as part of the renovation she oversaw, and the window grilles she installed, are still part of the house.

“Well, I think everyone is certainly hoping that she (Traci Park) can save the house. The fans are just very upset and expressing incredible outrage at the possibility of the house being demolished,” Fortner said.

Another famous name is associated with the house: Anna Nicole Smith rented the house for a while when she was just starting to make it big in Hollywood.