Marilyn Monroe Home Demolition in the Hands of Los Angeles Judge

The fate of Marilyn Monroe’s final home is now in the hands of a Los Angeles judge, who grilled attorneys Thursday on the process for designating the home as a historic site.

Its planned demolition by a prominent real estate developer’s daughter Brinah Milstein and reality TV producer Roy Bank was frozen two years ago and ultimately halted by the city amid feuding over the home’s status as historic.

The couple has fought for a year in California Superior Court, Los Angeles County to overturn the City Council’s June 2024 decision to mark the home for preservation. They argue the decision was improperly swayed by Councilmember Traci Park, whose 11th District is home to the site.

Park styled herself like Monroe to announce the motion and has said no residence is more deserving of the status. Her office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

There is “little doubt” that Park was biased when she introduced a motion and voted to designate the Brentwood, Calif., residence where the iconic celebrity died as a historic cultural monument, said Judge James Chalfant.

Marilyn Monroe lying on a patio next to a swimming pool deck circa 1951.

Photographer: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

That matters if the court considers the designation process to be “quasi-judicial,” where officials apply policies to the facts of a case. Glaser Weil attorney Peter Sheridan argued for the property owners that one biased participant in a quasi-judicial matter invalidates an entire decision.

However, if the designation arose from a “quasi-legislative” process rather than a quasi-judicial one, Park “has a duty to make her opinion known,” Chalfant said.

The decision has the hallmarks of traditional legislation because it involves issues impacting the community at large, argued attorneys for the city.

“It’s for future generations,” said Deputy City Attorney Lucy Atwood. “It has nothing to do with particular property owners of this property.”

Monroe’s Final Home

Marilyn Monroe purchased the Brentwood home six months before her death at age 36. It was the first residence she bought alone as a single woman. The two-bedroom, two-bathroom Spanish Hacienda-style house was originally built in 1929.

It’s gone through renovations and fourteen owners since Monroe’s death, and is enclosed by high fences and tall trees, so the public can’t see it, according to a California Superior Court, Los Angeles County petition filed by the house’s new owners in May 2024.

The new owners allege that the city has abused its power to block them from demolishing it.

The proceedings have thrust into the spotlight the historic cultural monument designation process, which revolves around the city’s small Office of Historic Resources that doesn’t normally grab headlines, said Kim Cooper, a co-founder of walking tour and preservation advocacy company Esotouric LA.

Esoutoric was among the first to email City Council staff with news the building was nearing demolition. Cooper watched proceedings Thursday with Richard Schave, Esotouric LA’s other co-founder.

The hearing today—particularly, the city’s “lack of granularity” in responses to procedural questions—"showed that the Department of Planning, the Office of Historic Resources, and City Council as a whole do not take historic preservation as a public policy seriously,” Schave said.

However, “there could still be a happy ending,” Cooper added, if the owners decide to relocate the house, regardless of how the court rules.

The judge took the matter under submission and said he plans to issue a ruling next week.

The case is Milstein v. City of Los Angeles, Cal. Super. Ct., No. 24STCP01469, 8/28/25.