After a year-long battle, Marilyn Monroe’s Brentwood dwelling has been saved from destruction.
On Wednesday, the L.A. Metropolis Council unanimously voted to designate the Spanish Colonial-style residence as a historic cultural monument, defending it from being razed by its present homeowners.
“Now we have a possibility to do one thing right this moment that ought to’ve been performed 60 years in the past. There’s no different particular person or place within the metropolis of Los Angeles as iconic as Marilyn Monroe and her Brentwood dwelling,” Councilmember Traci Park stated in a speech earlier than the vote.
Park, who represents the council’s 11th district, the place the property is positioned, added that she’s planning to introduce a movement to judge tour bus restrictions in Brentwood after neighbors complained about undesirable visitors across the property. She additionally floated the thought of transferring the house to a spot the place the general public may extra simply entry it.
“To lose this piece of historical past, the one dwelling that Monroe ever owned, could be a devastating blow for historic preservation and for a metropolis the place lower than 3% of historic designations are related to ladies’s heritage,” Park stated.
The battle over the house on fifth Helena Drive has been brewing since final summer time, evolving right into a larger dialogue of what precisely is price defending in Southern California — a area chock-full of architectural marvels and Outdated Hollywood haunts swirling with superstar legend and gossip.
Monroe followers claimed the residence is an indelible piece of Hollywood historical past; the actress purchased the home for $75,000 in 1962 and died there of an obvious overdose six months later, making it the final dwelling she ever occupied.
The householders claimed the home has been transformed so many instances through the years that it bears no resemblance to its former self. In addition they stated it has grow to be a neighborhood nuisance as vacationers and followers flock to take footage outdoors the property.
The saga began when heiress Brinah Milstein and her husband, actuality TV producer Roy Financial institution, purchased the property for $8.35 million and instantly laid out plans to demolish it. They owned the property subsequent door and wished to develop their property.
An aerial view reveals the Brentwood home the place actress Marilyn Monroe died.
(Mel Bouzad / Getty Photos)
The couple obtained a allow however quickly bumped into opposition, as historians, Angelenos and Monroe followers jumped in to protest the deliberate demolition. Councilmember Park stated she obtained tons of of calls and emails urging her to take motion.
The subsequent day, she held a information convention, whereas sporting pink lipstick and brief blond hair in a nod to Monroe, giving an impassioned speech urging the Metropolis Council to designate the house as a landmark.
Within the months after, the landmark software slowly superior, first receiving approval from the Cultural Heritage Fee after which from the Planning and Land Use Administration Committee.
Within the meantime, Milstein and Financial institution have been barred from demolishing the house. Milstein addressed the Cultural Heritage Fee straight in January in an effort to sway its determination.
“Now we have watched it go unmaintained and unkept. We bought the property as a result of it’s inside ft of ours. And it’s not a historic cultural monument,” she stated on the time.
In an try and halt the landmark designation course of, they sued the town in Might, claiming that officers acted unconstitutionally of their efforts to designate the house as a landmark and accusing them of “backdoor machinations” in attempting to protect a home that doesn’t meet the standards for standing as a historic cultural monument.
“There’s not a single piece of the home that features any bodily proof that Ms. Monroe ever spent a day on the home, not a bit of furnishings, not a paint chip, not a carpet, nothing,” the lawsuit says.
A choose denied the declare in June, calling the go well with an “ill-disguised movement to win in order that they’ll demolish the house and remove the historic cultural monument situation,” in response to ABC 7.
The Metropolis Council vote was initially set for June 12, however Park requested a postponement, citing the current courtroom determination and pending litigation, in addition to ongoing discussions between the town legal professional’s workplace and the property homeowners.
