Marilyn Monroe's final home saved from demolition, designated a Los Angeles cultural monument

The final home of Marilyn Monroe will not be demolished by property owners who sought to tear it down after the Los Angeles City Council voted to designate it as a historic cultural monument on Wednesday.

Last July, real estate heiress Brinah Milstein and her husband, TV producer Roy Bank, purchased the Spanish hacienda-style residence located at 12305 West 5th Helena Drive in Brentwood for $8.35 million. The couple, who owns the property next door, obtained a city permit to demolish the Monroe home, which was initially granted but later revoked.

The couple sued the city of L.A. in May so they could complete the tear-down. 

Monroe was found dead of a drug overdose at the home in 1962. It is the first and only residence she owned independently, according to the New York Times. 

During Wednesday's meeting, Councilwoman Traci Park — who represents L.A.'s 11th District, where the property is located — said allowing the home to be destroyed would be "a devastating blow to historical preservation."

"We have an opportunity to do something today that should've been done 60 years ago," Park said. "There is no other person or place in the city of Los Angeles as iconic as Marilyn Monroe and her Brentwood home."

The council was previously scheduled to take up the matter on June 12 but the vote was delayed. Park requested the decision be postponed so ongoing discussions with Milstein and Bank could continue. 

The lawsuit filed by the couple on May 6 sought a court order to block the monument designation, alleging they would suffer irreparable harm if they could not demolish the home.

In the court filings, Milstein and Bank accused the city of "illegal and unconstitutional conduct," describing the Brentwood home as "the house where Marilyn Monroe occasionally lived for a mere six months before she tragically committed suicide 61 years ago."

On June 6, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant sided with the city in a tentative ruling. In it, he said Milstein and Bank had made an "ill-disguised motion to win so that they can demolish the home and eliminate the historic cultural monument issue." Chalfant said the property owners would not suffer irreparable harm since the council would address the matter. 

Preservationists and supporters have called the residence a beloved piece of Hollywood history. Los Angeles Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting historical landmarks, called on concerned citizens to attend Wednesday's council meeting to advocate for designating it an official historic cultural landmark in L.A. 

The group said Monroe's final home was identified as being potentially historic by the City's SurveyLA program in 2013, but was "currently unprotected."

"Hollywood's iconic 'blonde bombshell' Marilyn Monroe left us way too soon, and now her house where she lived — and died in 1962 — may also be lost if we don't act quickly," Los Angeles Conservancy said in a description of the house.

Before the council's vote Wednesday, the residence had been making its way through the process of being designated a monument, with approval granted by the Cultural Heritage Commission and the city council's Planning and Land Use Management Committee.

The lawsuit previously filed by Milstein and Bank alleged the home did not qualify for such a designation.

"All of these backroom machinations were in the name of preserving a house which in no way meets any of the criteria for an `Historic Cultural Monument," the court filings state. "That much is bolstered by the fact, among others, that for 60 years through 14 owners and numerous remodels and building permits issued by the city, the city has taken no action regarding the now-alleged 'historic' or 'cultural' status of the house."

Just months before her death, Monroe told a reporter with Life magazine that she loved how private the home was, refusing to allow the publication's photographer to take photos, according to Vanity Fair.

"I don't want everybody to see exactly where I live, what my sofa or my fireplace looks like. Do you know the book Everyman? Well, I want to stay just in the fantasy of Everyman," she told the magazine.

Marissa Wenzke

Marissa Wenzke is a journalist based in Los Angeles. She has a bachelor's degree in political science from UC Santa Barbara and is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School.