Marilyn Monroe’s final home in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles is back in the news, with the Los Angeles City Council voting 12-0 to designate it with historical significance as a cultural landmark.
Variety reported that while the new designation will not prevent the property from being demolished, it creates an onerous review process if a demolition request is raised. The iconic actress lived for the last six months of her life at the Spanish Colonial-style home and was found dead there in August 1962 from a barbiturate overdose.
The property was acquired last year for $8.35 million by Brinah Milstein, the heiress daughter of real estate developer Carl Milstein, and her husband Roy Bank is a former reality television producer. The couple own the adjacent parcel and reportedly planned to combine the properties and tear down the Monroe home and is reportedly in an advanced state of disrepair. Despite the Monroe connection, the home was never open to the public.
Milstein and Bank have sued the city about the new designation on the home, accusing city officials of engaging in “backroom machinations” to force the new designation following a public outcry over reports that the home would be torn down.
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NO please don’t tear it down!
Marilyn Monroe was an iconic figure known around the world. To destroy a home she lived in at the time of her death is destroying history that intrigues people around the world. Instead, the home should become a place for visitors to tour.
It would mean so much to so many travelers from all places in the world who see her as one of the most famous, if not the most famous, person in the entire world.
The neighbors should sell their property to the City to use for parking visitor cars and tourist buses. Please don’t destroy this final home of Marilyn Monroe. It is a treasure for your City and should be shared with everyone from all over the world that is intrigued by this famous and beautiful woman.
Then the city should buy it from them and do what it wishes. To encumber private property like that is unconscionable
Let the new owner decide.
Should wealthy individuals be allowed to purchase historic properties with plans to tear them down, even if they have significant cultural significance like Marilyn Monroe’s final home? What steps can be taken to prevent the destruction of important historical sites in the name of development?”,
“refusal