Marilyn Monroe’s last home could avoid being demolished by property owners who want to tear it down — depending on a Los Angeles City Council vote Wednesday.
Brinah Milstein, real estate heiress to a billionaire fortune, and her husband, TV producer Roy Bank, bought the Spanish hacienda-style home at 12305 West 5th Helena Drive for $8.35 million last July. They own the property next door and wanted to expand, so they obtained a city permit to demolish the house, which was initially granted but later revoked.
On Wednesday, the city council will decide the fate of the house and vote on whether it should be designated a historic cultural monument, which would prevent its demolition. The couple sued the city of LA last month so they could proceed with the demolition.
Monroe was found dead in his home in 1962 from a drug overdose. According to the New York Times, it is the first and only home she has ever owned independently.
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The council was previously scheduled to hear the matter on June 12, but the vote was postponed. Councilwoman Traci Park, who represents LA’s 11th District – where the property is located – requested a delay in the decision so that ongoing discussions with Milstein and Bank could continue.
The lawsuit filed by the couple On May 6, they filed a motion with the court to block the designation as a monument, arguing that the couple would suffer irreparable harm if the designation were granted and they were not allowed to demolish the house.
In the lawsuits, Milstein and Bank accused the city of “illegal and unconstitutional conduct,” describing the Brentwood home as “the home where Marilyn Monroe lived on and off for just six months before she tragically committed suicide 61 years ago.”
On June 6, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant sided with the city with a preliminary ruling calling Milstein and Bank’s motion a “thinly veiled motion to win so they could demolish the house and preserve the historic cultural monument could be eliminated. problem.” Chalfant said property owners would not suffer irreparable harm as the municipality will address the matter.
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Historians and fans say the West 5th Helena Drive residence is a crucial, beloved piece of Hollywood history. Los Angeles Conservancy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting historic monuments, has called on concerned citizens to attend Wednesday’s meeting to advocate for the monument’s designation as an official L.A. Historic Cultural Landmark
The group said Monroe’s last home was identified as potentially historic by the city’s SurveyLA program in 2013, but it is “currently unprotected.”
“Hollywood’s iconic ‘blonde bombshell’ Marilyn Monroe left us far too soon, and now her home where she lived – and died in 1962 – could also be lost if we don’t act quickly,” Los Angeles Conservancy said in describing the case . house.
The residence has worked its way through the process of being designated a monument, with approval from the Cultural Heritage Commission and the City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee.
The lawsuit previously filed by Milstein and Bank claims the home does not qualify for such a designation.
“All of these backroom machinations were in the name of preserving a house that in no way meets the criteria for a ‘Historic Cultural Monument,’ the court records say. “This is supported, among other things, by the fact that for sixty years, thanks to fourteen owners and countless renovations and building permits issued by the city, the city has taken no action regarding the building’s now so-called ‘historic’ or ‘cultural’ status . the House.”
Just months before her death, Monroe told a Life magazine reporter that she loved how private the house was, and refused to allow the publication’s photographer to take photos, according to Vanity Fair.
“I don’t want everyone to see exactly where I live, what my couch or my fireplace looks like. Do you know the book? Everyone? Well, I just want to stay in the fantasy of Everyone,she told the magazine.
