Some Like It Historic: Marilyn Monroe’s Former L.A. Home Declared a Landmark

The former Los Angeles residence of Marilyn Monroe has been saved from the wrecking ball.

The abode of the Hollywood legend was added to a list of local historical landmarks by the Los Angeles City Council, which voted unanimously to preserve it, the New York Post reported.

Located in the Brentwood neighborhood, the home was the site of her untimely death in 1962 at age 36.

“There is no other person or place in the city of Los Angeles as iconic as Marilyn Monroe and her Brentwood home,” said council member Traci Park, who introduced the landmark proposal. “To lose this piece of history, the only home that Marilyn Monroe ever owned, would be a devastating blow for historic preservation and for a city where less than 3% of historic designations are associated with women’s heritage.”

Preservation in dispute

The homeowners are real estate heiress Brinah Milstein and her husband, Roy Bank, a reality TV producer. They reportedly bought the property last August for about $8,350,000.

Milstein and Bank also own the property next door and planned to expand their adjacent home onto the grounds of the Monroe home. The city had approved their demolition permit—until it was temporarily halted while the home’s landmark status was considered.

The homeowners filed a lawsuit to stop the designation, claiming “illegal and unconstitutional conduct” by the city “with respect to the house where Marilyn Monroe occasionally lived for a mere six months before she tragically committed suicide 61 years ago.”

The suit claims the home has been “substantially altered” since Monroe’s death. “There is not a single piece of the house that includes any physical evidence that Ms. Monroe ever spent a day at the house, not a piece of furniture, not a paint chip, not a carpet, nothing,” the lawsuit said.

As a topper, the lawsuit adds the home is a nuisance as it draws throngs of looky-loos and tour buses.

Hollywood history

Monroe is said to have purchased the home for $77,000 in February 1962, about six months before her death.

She furnished it with items picked up in Mexico, including tiles and textiles. She called her casa a “fortress where I can feel safe from the world.”

The hacienda-style exterior has remained relatively unchanged over the years. The 2,600-square-foot, four-bedroom, three-bath abode dates to 1929 and sits behind a privacy wall.

Original details include beamed ceilings, terra-cotta tile floors, and casement windows. The half-acre lot includes a pool and citrus orchard.

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