Saturday, April 27, 2024

Marilyn Monroes Brentwood House Saved From Demolition After Public Outcry

brentwood marilyn monroe house

Her bedroom opened right onto the backyard and the kidney-shaped swimming pool, which her biographers claim she never used. Park announced her plans to put the motion forward in a Friday morning press conference. The screen legend, star of such films as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Some Like It Hot and The Misfits, was found dead in a bedroom of the home in August 1962. Park’s motion issued a stop-work order and began the process of preparing the HCM application. The full City Council must vote first before permanent protections take effect. HCM designation would still allow owners to update and even expand the house if desired, but local designation ensures its essential character, and Monroe’s association, is maintained.

Photos: Marilyn Monroe’s star still shines bright, 60 years after her death

Shortly after that home tour, the actress died at the house in August 1962. L.A.’s Office of Historic Resources performed various assessments in the weeks following the issuance of the permit to recommend that Monroe’s Spanish-style abode be permanently protected and designated a historic site. Tucked into the Hollywood Hills, a Mediterranean-style residence once shared by Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio is on the market for $2.695 million. The house is still a hot spot for tourists hoping to catch a glimpse of the place where Monroe took her final breath, and Hollywood tours still take groups down the cul-de-sac to snap pictures. The Brentwood home once owned by Marilyn Monroe has sold for $7.25 million, or $325,000 above the asking price. The next morning, Murray noticed a light still on in Monroe’s bedroom.

The Death Of Marilyn Monroe In The Bedroom Of Her Brentwood Home

The owners of the house have recently announced their intent to offer the house up for relocation. While never a first choice, the Conservancy appreciates this consideration and believes HCM designation can not only allow for possible relocation but also help guide it appropriately. Earlier this year, the home’s owner was listed as Glory of the Snow LLC, managed by Dan Lukas of Emerald Lake Capital Management and his wife, Anne Jarmain. “Like the many, many hundreds of people from all over the world who have contacted my office over the last 48 hours, I am extremely concerned about this and I recognize the need for urgent action by the city,” Park said.

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Park said Monroe’s Brentwood home stood as a “touching reminder of her final days” and was a place where the troubled starlet, who died in 1962 at age 36, found peace. The star handpicked from her journeys from around the world “each detail of the home, from its wooden beam ceilings to the tiles,” she said. She was discovered by her housekeeper, Eunice Murray, after she noticed Monroe's bedroom light was on in the early hours of the morning.

Marilyn Monroe’s Brentwood Home, Nearly Demolished Last Year, To Be Preserved By City

When we tell stories about the people and women of Los Angeles, it’s fundamentally more real and tangible when we root them in the places that help illustrate their lives, contributions, and connection to LA. Few places do this better for Marilyn Monroe than her former residence. Despite living in many places in her short but highly productive 36 years, this was the first house she sought out and bought for herself and on her own while actively working. In August, Glory of the Snow LLC sold the property to Glory of the Snow Trust, i.e., Andrew Schure, for $8.35 million. According to Park, Schure hasn’t submitted any plans indicating what he intends to do with the property after demolition of the house.

It is said Marilyn used one bedroom for herself, installed her housekeeper-companion in a second bedroom, and the third bedroom was used as a “telephone room,” a must-have, surely, for all girls in the 1960s. The proposed demolition sparked a social media outcry and a push to preserve the home. On January 18, the City’s Cultural Heritage Commission (CHC) recommended approval for the Marilyn Monroe Residence Historic-Cultural Monument (HCM). It headed to the City Council, first to the Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee, and then to the full City Council for a final vote. The Conservancy greatly thanks Heather Goers, who prepared the HCM nomination on behalf of the City. A presentation delivered ahead of the vote explained how, in her short time living there, Monroe spent roughly $51,000 refurbishing and renovating the home.

According to city records, on Sept. 7 the building department approved the demolition of the single-family home, attached garage, pool house and storage. The five-member Cultural Heritage Commission voted unanimously to prevent demolition efforts of the iconic movie star’s final home in the block of Fifth Helena Drive. The commissioners each made short remarks on the home’s cultural significance.

Marilyn Monroe's Brentwood Home Set to Be Demolished - TheWrap

Marilyn Monroe's Brentwood Home Set to Be Demolished.

Posted: Thu, 07 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Marilyn Monroe’s former Brentwood home takes step toward preservation

Ft. hacienda for $77,500, shortly after parting ways with her ex-husband, playwright Arthur Miller, in February 1962. Emily St. Martin is a former entertainment reporter on the Fast Break Desk. Before joining the Los Angeles Times, she contributed to the New York Times, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, NBC, Vice, Los Angeles Magazine and the Southern California News Group.

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“I am here with you today as the custodian of the district which is home to Marilyn Monroe’s beloved final residence. I am also here today as a defender of our city’s rich history and heritage,” Park said. Chiswell was so distraught that her husband researched other homes Monroe had lived in and happened upon the Runyon Canyon mansion, which was listed for sale and had an open house the next day. “We completely fell in love with it, and it’s been a dream ever since,” Chiswell told Hall. Outdoors, lush lawns surrounded a brick patio and a kidney-shaped swimming pool. Mature trees, a guest house and a small citrus grove filled out the half-acre grounds.

brentwood marilyn monroe house

"The same courtyard, entry, and backyard with the pool and the expansive grassy yard and garden are all there. A Los Angeles City commission today voted to preserve the former Brentwood home of Marilyn Monroe and recommended it be designated a historic-cultural monument after it was almost demolished last year at the request of the property owner. City Coucil vote triggered a temporary stay on all building permits while the matter is under consideration by the Cultural Heritage Commission and City Council. No plans had been submitted by the owner indicating what they planned to do with with property, Park said.

Los Angeles Moves to Preserve Marilyn Monroe's Brentwood Home as a Cultural Monument Amid Demolition Concerns - Hoodline

Los Angeles Moves to Preserve Marilyn Monroe's Brentwood Home as a Cultural Monument Amid Demolition Concerns.

Posted: Fri, 19 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

St. Martin has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of La Verne and a master’s in creative nonfiction from UC Riverside. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Get our big stories about Hollywood, film, television, music, arts, culture and more right in your inbox as soon as they publish.

Most notably, the kitchen and bathrooms have been modernized, and the estate’s formerly detached guest casita has been merged into the main house. Still, numerous original features — casement windows, terracotta tile floors, wood-beamed ceilings — happily hark back to Golden Age times. For the best houses for sale, places to eat, wine to drink, things to do, and untold histories of Los Angeles's brightest stars and their Hollywood homes. The final home of Marilyn Monroe – and the only residence she ever owned independently – will remain standing for now after Los Angeles officials intervened to block the property’s demolition. We will continue working with Park’s office to ensure the Cultural Heritage Commission and City Council take this important house under consideration for historic protections. The residence, built in 1929, was the only home the actor owned independently.

How dare you take [Marilyn Monroe’s] whole persona and house to make money and then tear down the one thing she ever owned,” read one of the replies. The motion to protect the home was introduced by Councilwoman Traci Park, who represents the city’s 11th district, which includes Brentwood. Ms. Park found out about the looming demolition on Sept. 6 after an article in The New York Post was circulated widely among her constituents, she said. Six months after she moved in, Ms. Monroe died of a drug overdose in her bedroom.

The motion also prevents any major alterations to the property while the city reviews its potential status as a landmark. Fast forward all the way to 2023, and the property was snapped up by Glory of the Snow LLC, which then sold it to the Trust of the same name. The latter then shockingly applied for a demolition permit to destroy Marilyn Monroe's former home. Thankfully, as mentioned, the Los Angeles City Council managed to temporarily halt the plans in 2023. Hollywood’s iconic “blonde bombshell” Marilyn Monroe left us way too soon, and now her house where she lived—and died in 1962—may also be lost if we don’t act quickly. Previous owners filed plans to build a new house on the site of Monroe’s 1929 Spanish, hacienda-style home in Brentwood, and current owners are seeking to have the house demolished, whereby clearance for a demolition permit was nearly in place.

Although Monroe lived in 43 different homes in her lifetime, this was the only one she actually bought and chose on her own. She reportedly purchased it after her psychiatrist advised her to "put down some roots." Optican, an agent with Mercer Vine, also guesses at why the star chose the "warm, romantic, intimate" property during the tumultuous final year of her life. "You feel it and get why she was attracted to it—she wanted a home rather than just a big house in Beverly Hills." "For people all over the world, Marilyn Monroe was more than just a movie icon," Park said. "Her story, from the challenging childhood growing up in orphanages and foster homes to become a global sensation, is a shining example of what it means to overcome adversity."

When a reporter from LIFE visited the star at home, Monroe asked the magazine not to photograph it. “I don’t want everybody to see exactly where I live, what my sofa or my fireplace looks like,” Monroe explained. Throughout his decades-long career, Craig Ellwood brought his indoor-outdoor living approach to several properties across Southern California, including his beachfront Hunt House in Malibu. The Zimmerman house, with its floor-to-ceiling glass windows and open floor plans, was designed early in her father’s career and wasn’t the best representation of his work, Ellwood said.

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