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Why Marilyn Monroe's final $8.3M Brentwood home could soon be demolished
Marilyn Monroe's $8.3million Brentwood former home could soon be demolished as legal battles between residents and the Los Angeles City Council have prolonged the process.
The council voted this week to delay a vote on whether the house's current owners, Brinah Milstein and Roy Bank, can bulldoze the iconic residence to expand their own.
Milstein, heir to a real estate fortune, and Bank, a reality television producer - purchased it for $8.35million last summer and hoped to demolish it in order to expand their current home, which sits on the plot next door.
In September, councilwoman Traci Park introduced the initial consideration to historically preserve the Spanish colonial-style home, which would prevent the couple from tearing it down.
The motion has since been approved by the Cultural Heritage Commission, along with the city council's Planning and Land Use Committee, but on Wednesday, Park requested that the vote be postponed because of ongoing legal challenges with the wealthy couple.
Marilyn Monroe's $8.3million Brentwood home could soon be demolished as the Los Angeles City Council recently decided to delay the vote on the fate of the home
Monroe, then the most recognizable woman on the face of the planet, lived in the Brentwood house for less than six months before she died at 36 from a drug overdose
Monroe, then the most recognizable woman on the face of the planet, lived in the Brentwood house for less than six months before her untimely death in 1962 from a drug overdose at the age of 36.
According to the Los Angeles Daily News, Park said: 'Following the recent court decision and pending litigation, as well as ongoing discussions between the City Attorney’s Office and the property owners, I would like to continue the item… for good cause.'
In early June, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant issued a tentative ruling in favor of the city.
Last month, Milstein and Bank sued Los Angeles, claiming that collusion to landmark the historic property is preventing them from razing the house later this summer.
Attorneys for the couple filed a suit that accused the city of violating codes and plotting with third parties to rush through the landmarking process for the house whose current owners want to demolish it.
Brinah Milstein and Roy Bank purchased Monroe's home for $8.35million last summer and hoped to demolish it in order to expand their current home, which sits on the plot next door
Monroe purchased the four-bedroom, three- bathroom home on Helena Drive in the early 1960s for $75,000
A demolition permit was initially issued for the single-family home, but now the owners claim a 'spasm of activity' among city staffers has led to the beginning of the landmark designation process, which prevents them from forging ahead with their plan.
Though the house is not visible from the street - Fifth Helena Drive - fans of the late icon often swing by anyway to deposit flowers and attempt to peer past the hedges to see the single-story, 2,900 square-foot home.
Monroe purchased the four-bedroom, three- bathroom home in the early 1960s for $75,000.
This was her first house she owned by herself after the end of her third marriage to playwright Arthur Miller.
The American actress, model, and singer was found dead in the bedroom of her Brentwood home in August 1962.
The cause of death was ruled to be acute barbiturate poisoning, a type of depressant.
Monroe poses outside her home in 1962, it was the only property she ever purchased and owned by herself
The couple, as well as some other residents of the neighborhood are convinced that designating the home a landmark will only make their tourist problem worse
The property has been altered many times over the decades. It is believed to have first been erected in 1929, but was already a very different house by the time Monroe purchased it.
Milstein and Bank have argued the house has gone through another near-total transformation since the time Monroe occupied it.
'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 suit read, according to the New York Times.
The house has changed hands at least 14 times since Monroe's death, and undergone numerous remodels about which the city has 'taken no action regarding the now alleged ‘historic’ or ‘cultural’ status of the house,' the suit claimed.
In September, Councilwoman Traci Park introduced the initial consideration to historically preserve the Spanish colonial-style home, which would prevent the couple from tearing it down
The bed in which Monroe overdosed on August 4, 1962
'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 suit read.
Milstein has previously complained about Monroe's fans wandering the streets of the tony community, ringing her doorbell, asking to be let in so that they may see the late film star's one-time house.
The couple, as well as some other residents of the neighborhood are convinced that designating the home a landmark will only make their tourist problem worse.
Since 2013, the famed house has been flagged by the city's survey program as being 'potentially historic,' but at no time in these last 11 years has it merited the upgrade.