Marilyn Monroe's LA Home Temporarily Spared From Demolition

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• Marilyn Monroe's house was temporarily spared from demolition. What is its history?
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Upon his death, Miller donated 55 acres to the Roxbury Land Trust, and in 2015, his daughter Rebecca (with third wife Inge Morath) donated an additional 100 acres. "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." The proposal from Councilwoman Traci Park was introduced Friday to spare Marilyn Monroe's Brentwood home from demolition by having it declared a historic-cultural monument. The motion starts the process of declaring the property a historic-cultural monument, ultimately preserving the property. The property was facing the possibility of destruction after the Department of Building and Safety issued a demolition permit to its current owner, Glory of the Snow Trust on Sept. 5.

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Now renamed Granville Towers, the building has been home to many bold-faced names, including David Bowie and Nora Ephron. Park said the house was sold in July and the new owners recently filed a request to have it demolished. “Unfortunately, the Department of Building and Safety issued a demolition permit before my team and I could fully intervene and get this issue resolved,” Park said in a news conference on Friday. On Friday, the city’s Board of Building and Safety Commissioners sent the home’s current owners a notice of intent to revoke the permit request to demolish the estate.

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You can not be a marilyn fan then tear her house down for new aesthetics — just MOVE,” reads another. 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 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. It’s unclear what the mysterious new owner intends to do with the property. The owner did not submit any plans indicating what their plans are for the land, Park said at last week’s press conference. The house apparently still holds secrets from Monroe’s short time living there.

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Monroe bought the house in 1962 for $77,500, which adjusted for inflation would mean almost $760,000 today, and it already had a certain historical value, since it was built in 1929. It has handmade tiles (on them read, precisely, that inscription, “Cursum Perficio”), vaulted wooden ceilings with exposed beams, terracotta floors and a pool in which, according to Hollywood urban legends, the star never got to bathe. She decorated it with care, with many handicrafts brought from Mexico, although she never completed it and, at her death, closed boxes remained in the corridors.

” expressed Rodney Liber, former movie producer and resident of the area for 30 years. “However, the BHA does not have rights or jurisdiction to intercede as there are no rules about obtaining a permit from the City and the home is NOT on the historical society list. We had hoped the current owners had purchased it for preservation, but may have changed their minds due to the value of the land”. However, their opinion now opposes that of the powerful Los Angeles city council, which has opened its eyes at the last moment to safeguard a piece of the immense and sadly decaying architectural and cultural heritage of its golden era. Marilyn Monroe decided to call her house, the only one she ever owned, “Cursum Perficio”, which translates to “Here ends my journey.” And the journey of that home has very nearly come to an end. The movie star married three times, lived with her three husbands, spent time at the famous Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard, but it wasn’t until she turned 35 that she bought her first and only home.

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Marilyn Monroe's Los Angeles Home Is Approved to be Demolished - PEOPLE

Marilyn Monroe's Los Angeles Home Is Approved to be Demolished.

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

Kevin Deevey, who described himself as a Hollywood preservationist for many years, also wrote an email to the commission calling for the home's protection. He said the house is part of an identity that is "being lost in Los Angeles," focusing on the home's architectural design. But one strong statement of support came via email from Parisian art historian Jacques Le Roux, calling for the city to formally act and declare the home a landmark. Adrian Scott Fine from the Los Angeles Conservancy was in attendance, supporting Monroe's home being made a city landmark. Heather Goers, the preparer representing the city of Los Angeles in its efforts to protect the home, countered that first argument that Monroe was waiting for custom furnishing for her home when she died, and even registered her dog's license in the city.

Before Monroe and DiMaggio called it quits after less than a year, the baseball star accompanied his wife to New York City where they stayed in a St. Regis Hotel suite while she filmed The Seven Year Itch. (As depicted in Blonde, DiMaggio violently objected to Monroe’s famous skirt-blowing subway-grate scene.) After the couple split, she decamped to a French Normandy–style West Hollywood penthouse in a 1930 building designed by architects Leland Bryant and Samuel Coine. The Voltaire Apartments (as it was known in 1954) penthouse still has floor-to-ceiling windows and city views.

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The commissioners each shared short remarks on the home's cultural significance. The 11th District councilmember wore red lipstick and styled her short blond hair à la Monroe as she gave an impassioned speech announcing she would be bringing a motion to initiate consideration of historic cultural monument status for Monroe’s home. Monroe was clearly fond of the four-bedroom, three-bathroom house despite her relatively short residency there. Ellwood, an Ojai-based interior designer, spoke to The Times about her father’s late ‘40s Brentwood commission, known among locals as the Zimmerman House after original owners Martin and Eva Zimmerman.

"It is the only place in the world that grounds Marilyn's myth into history, and the U.S. and world's history," Le Roux wrote in his email. "It is the only physical reminder that remains of the life and death of an extraordinary human being. 'Marilyn' has become part of our -- the U.S. and the world's -- collective unconscious." During the meeting, attorney George Mihlsten, representing the property owner, Glory of the Snow LLC, argued the home should not fall under the city's landmark ordinance, citing that the home had been empty and bare, and not worthy of being a monument. Park said her office took hundreds of calls from people this week about the planned demolition.

News first broke in September, 2023 about the planned demolition of Monroe’s former home, prompting widespread concern and the September 8th initiation of a Historic-Cultural Monument (HCM) nomination, thanks to Councilmember Traci Park. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. 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.

When the police arrived, they found the Marilyn Monroe house only partly furnished. The actress had only lived in her safe haven for a few months before her death. The hacienda sat on over half an acre of property, with a sparkling kidney-shaped swimming pool and a grove of citrus trees.

The property, which she described as a “time capsule” because of its Midcentury Modern aesthetic, was purchased last year and set for demolition seemingly without reason. In recent weeks, several reports revealed that the Marvel star and Schwarzenegger purchased the lot for $12.5 million and that their new mansion — to be designed by Ken Ungar — was the reason for the teardown. Monroe may not have lived in this home, but it still played a significant role in her life. After a civil ceremony at the Westchester County Court House in White Plains in 1956, Monroe and Miller had a second Jewish ceremony and small reception on the lawn of the Westchester, New York, home of Miller’s agent, Kay Brown. News of the home’s pending demise sparked outrage from local history buffs and fans of Monroe.

The Office of Historic Resources and the Historic Cultural Commission must now evaluate the home to see if it qualifies for historic preservation, according to the Times. Out back, a brick patio spills out to a notably large swimming pool; beyond that, a grassy lawn is surrounded by mature trees, tall hedges and a citrus orchard. Out front, bountiful bunches of bougainvillea arch their way across the home’s façade, and there’s a two-car garage. While the home’s exterior architecture remains incredibly alike how it appeared in 1962, the interiors have been significantly altered.

A real estate listing indicates the house was purchased in May 2017 for $7.25 million, but Park said her office learned Wednesday that the home was acquired by a new owner and an application for a demolition permit had been submitted and for review with the city. No plans had been submitted by the owner indicating what they planned to do with with property, Park said. In 2013 there was already a first attempt to consider the villa, of Spanish or colonial style, as part of the historical heritage of the city, as confirmed to this newspaper by the Department of City Planning. Its technicians went to inspect the place and even issued a small public report where they talked about its possible inclusion in the HCM list. But as the house was private property, and they could not access it, only see it from the outside, like so many other tourists who walk there every day, they did not reach a definite conclusion.

At that time, common areas included a formal living room with a Mexican-tile-lined fireplace, a family room and an office. Saltillo tile floors and vaulted wood-beamed ceilings were among the interior details. The Spanish Colonial relic of bygone Hollywood is set to be demolished by its current owner, who bought the 2,900-square-foot hacienda for $8.35 million. Department of Building and Safety permit showed that, although officials hadn’t yet granted a formal permit, the early stages of the process were underway.

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. Set behind gates at the end of a cul-de-sac, the single-story home has four bedrooms and three bathrooms, The Times wrote when the house changed hands in 2017.