Millionaire couple wants to demolish Marilyn Monroe’s house and sues Los Angeles | Celebrities

Marilyn Monroe, actress and one of the icons of femininity of the 20th century, owned only one home: a house in Los Angeles, at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive, in the exclusive neighborhood of Brentwood, where she died in August 1962.

Since then, the house passed from hand to hand, until, in August last year, it was acquired by Brinah Milstein, a millionaire heiress, thanks to a fortune associated with the real estate sector, and Roy Bank, television producer of reality shows, for 8.35 million dollars (almost 7.8 million euros). Problem: The couple wants to demolish the structure and an ongoing landmark designation process is preventing them from doing so.

Milstein and Bank, who already lived in the house next door, acquired the neighboring property to expand their home and filed a demolition request, which, at first, received a city license, reports the CBS news channel KCAL. However, the permit was revoked after the city decided to begin a historic landmark designation process for that property.

Since then, the Cultural Heritage Commission and the City Council’s Land Use Planning and Management Commission have given the green light to the request for classification as a monument, and the application still needs approval from the city council, scheduled for next month.

The couple, however, accuses the city of “illegal and unconstitutional conduct”, alleging that Monroe’s connection to the house has been exaggerated, as the actress lived in that residence for only six months and intermittently, in addition to the space already having been the subject of changes over the last six decades, which have never raised licensing concerns.