The current owners of Marilyn Monroe’s former Los Angeles mansion, a wealthy real estate heiress and her reality TV producer husband, are suing the city for the right to demolish the house where she died.
Brina Milstein and Roy Bank filed the lawsuit Monday after the ongoing landmark designation process blocked the demolition of the iconic Brentwood mansion they purchased last summer for $8.35 million. KCAL TV reported.
The couple, who live next door, bought a large Spanish colonial building to be demolished in order to expand their home, but they initially had permission from the city to demolish it, but city leaders opposed it. The plan was canceled.
At a public hearing in September, the city council argued that the late star’s final home should be designated as a cultural monument and landmark, and temporarily halted the demolition.
Local news outlets say the heritage committee and the city council’s planning and land use control committee have since given the green light to the landmark application.
The application must be approved by the full city council before it becomes official, and must be approved by mid-June.
But Milstein and the banks are working to prevent that from happening.
They accused the city of “illegal and unconstitutional actions” and “backroom maneuvering” to save the home, which Monroe bought for $75,000 in 1962.
The couple also said that Monroe’s connection to the house has been exaggerated, calling it “the house where Marilyn Monroe sometimes lived for just six months before tragically committing suicide 61 years ago.” KCAL-TV reported.
They also claimed it did not meet the city’s landmark standards.
“All of these behind-the-scenes maneuvers were carried out in the name of preserving a house that did not meet the criteria for a ‘historical and cultural monument,'” the agency said in the complaint.
“It shows, among other things, that for 60 years, through 14 owners and numerous city-issued renovations and building permits, the city has never done anything regarding the building’s currently claimed ‘historic’ or ‘cultural’ status. ‘home, supported by the fact that no action was taken,”’ the suit says.
The couple is seeking a court order blocking the landmark designation process.
