Alleging an "abuse of power" by Los Angeles city officials, the owners of Marilyn Monroe's former Brentwood home are suing the city to block an effort to have the structure declared a historic-culture landmark, which would prevent its demolition.
The Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit [...] alleges "illegal and unconstitutional conduct" by the city "with respect to the house where Marilyn Monroe occasionally lived for a mere six months before she tragically committed suicide 61 years ago."
— NBC Los Angeles
The LA Times (which has been reporting on the story since January of this year when the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission recommended landmark status for the former Monroe residence) writes that the lawsuit was filed by billionaire heiress Brinah Milstein and her TV producer husband Roy Bank, who also own the home next door and purchased the contested mansion in 2023 with the intent to demolish it and merge both properties.
The preservation fight involving the Marilyn Monroe house follows the public uproar over the demolition of Craig Ellwood's 1950 Zimmerman House in Los Angeles by its new owners, actor Chris Pratt and his wife Katherine Schwarzenegger, last month.
1 Comment
I don't know whether too many people have noticed this or not but people in a certain industry will do whatever they are told will gain them the most fans which equates to the most money in many different situations... one can only look at what they wear when the choose their own clothes as opposed to being dressed by someone and even then, it shows that sometimes items that were chosen for them might not have been the best choice as far as what is best for their visual appearance.
That said... I know that sometimes you do a project because you need the work, in fact probably all projects we do because we need the work, but maybe just suggest to them that they can do it a different way. most of us who are trained in architecture and are not of the "where's waldo" variety, can at least suggest to clients that they could do something different. Do these people really need to merge two lots in Brentwood to build a megamansion? Probably not.
Years ago, I got a referral from one of my former employers to go and look at a potential project because it was a smaller budget than what the firm could take on, they did large very high quality and beautiful homes for people in the entertainment industry.
I had been told that it was a Paul William's house and it surely looked like it was. And the people started telling me about what they wanted to do with it, basically gut it and make it into some other type of house that I suppose (this was back before the internet) into something that they had maybe seen in AD. And I said, "Well... it is a Paul William's house and I would like to keep the integrity of the house that he desinged and maybe redo the kitchen and the baths but the rest, I would basically say to repair and paint.
I gave thema proposal and I never heard from them.
I suppose that they didn't want to hear from some 30 year old new mother that they couldn't do what they wanted to do. And had I been harder up for cash, it is not like I had any money or didn't need the money, but I didn't want to do that to a piece of architecture that was history. It was important to me as an architect.
And I feel that I made the right choice.
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