LA City Council votes to make Marilyn Monroe’s home a cultural landmark after owners tried to demolish it

The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to make Marilyn Monroe’s former Brentwood, California home a designated cultural landmark after its owners attempted to demolish it.

The successful vote on Wednesday comes after the current homeowners made a bid to demolish the property later this year.

Los Angeles Councilwoman Traci Park, who led the landmark designation effort, spoke moments before the council deemed the home a landmark.

“Colleagues, we have an opportunity to do something today that should have been done 60 years ago,” Park said on Wednesday afternoon. “There is no other person or place in the city of Los Angeles as iconic as Marilyn Monroe and her Brentwood home.”

“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 percent of historic designations are associated with women’s heritage,” she continued.

Park said she is working with the owners to see if they can move the home to a place accessible to the public.

“While that hasn’t happened yet, I remain hopeful and committed to working with the property owners to see if this can be done in the future,” Park said.

Heiress Brinah Milstein and reality TV producer Roy Bank, who have owned the home since last year and wanted to demolish it, previously sued the City of Los Angeles over its attempt to designate the home as a historic landmark. Their attorney, Peter Sheridan, told The Independent that Park has not worked closely with the owners. Sheridan called the landmark designation an “admittedly biased, unconstitutional and rigged process.”

“Neither [Park] nor her staff have worked closely with the owners, throughout this process or anytime else, to relocate the house to allow for public access,” Sheridan said.

“The owners have made countless attempts to work with Ms. Park and her staff to find a solution that would work for everyone, only to be met with non-responsiveness by Ms. Park and her staff,” he continued.

A judge tentatively denied the owners’ request for injunctive relief on June 4. In the ruling, the judge called the owners’ suit an “ill-disguised motion to win so that they can demolish the home and eliminate the historic cultural monument issue,” per CBS News.

The fight to make the home a landmark began in 2023 when local residents learned the city issued Milstein and Bank a demolition permit.

In September, the LA City Council voted to begin the process of landmark consideration, meaning the demolition permits were nullified, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Monroe lived at the home for less than six months before she died on the property in August 1962 at 36 years old. More than 14 people have owned the property since her death and the City of Los Angeles has issued a dozen permits to remodel the home, according to the owners’ lawsuit.

“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 reads.

The 2,900-square-foot home was built in 1929 and was independently owned by Monroe, who reportedly paid $75,000 for the property in the 1960s. Milstein’s trust, Glory of the Snow Trust, bought the home for $8.35m in July 2023.

Meanwhile, last month Sheridan accused the city of conducting “backroom machinations” to keep the home standing.

“The City’s conduct, including blatant deceit regarding its behind-the-scenes dealings with biased third-parties to rig the process (including involvement of profiteering tour operators), has caused irreparable harm to the plaintiffs and petitioners, depriving them of their vested rights,” Sheridan said in a statement.

This article has been updated to include comment from Peter Sheridan.