Marilyn Monroe’s Former Los Angeles Home Declared a Historic Cultural Landmark, Stopping Demolition

The former Los Angeles home of Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe was declared a historic cultural landmark on Wednesday, preventing its demolition by its current owners.

The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously – 12-0 – to approve the motion made by City Councilwoman Traci Park, who represents the 11th District where the Spanish Colonial-style house is located.

Monroe purchased the one-story house on Helena Drive in 1962 for $75,000. It was the only residence she ever owned. She died there six months later.

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The 2,900-square-foot estate in upscale Brentwood has four bedrooms and three bathrooms. The home features exposed beams and terracotta tile floors, as well as a large backyard pool surrounded by lush citrus trees and a manicured lawn.

“We have an opportunity to do something today that should have been done 60 years ago,” Park said before the vote, according to Fox 11. “There is no other person or place in the city of Los Angeles as iconic as Marilyn Monroe and her home in Brentwood.

“Some of the most famous images of her ever taken were taken in this house, on this land and by her swimming pool. Marilyn died tragically there – she is bound forever, in time and space , at this very house,” Park said. “There is probably no woman in history or culture who captures the public imagination like Marilyn Monroe. Even all these years later, her story still resonates and inspires many of us today.”

The decision comes after a months-long battle between the council and the home’s owners, Roy Bank and Brinah Milstein, who own a neighboring property.

The couple purchased the former Monroe home in July 2023 for $8.35 million and plan to demolish the house to expand their estate, according to the Los Angeles Times.

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The couple obtained a demolition permit soon after, but Park introduced a motion last year to protect the house by granting it historic landmark status, after receiving approval from the Cultural Heritage Commission and of the Land Use Planning and Management Committee, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Bank and Milstein sued the city in May for acting unconstitutionally to preserve the house, according to the Los Angeles Times. A judge denied their request for an injunction to stop the historic designation, and a pretrial conference for the current lawsuit is scheduled for Aug. 13, according to the New York Times.

The couple claimed the city exaggerated Monroe’s connection to the house and that she lived only “only six months before tragically committing suicide 61 years ago,” according to a lawsuit cited by KCAL-TV.

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The couple says the city approved dozens of renovations by the home’s 14 previous owners.

“All of these behind-the-scenes machinations were aimed at preserving a house that in no way meets the criteria of a ‘Historic and Cultural Monument,'” the lawsuit states.

At the time, his death was thought to be an overdose of sleeping pills. We still don’t really know if it was accidental or suicidal. She was found at home, alone in bed, with a phone off the hook in her hand and a bottle of sleeping pills on the side of her bed.

Stephanie Giang-Paunon of Fox Business and Reuters contributed to this report.