Marilyn Monroe's Home Saved from the Wrecking Ball (for Now) Following Unanimous Vote

Mar. 15, 2025

Marilyn Monroe home.Photo:Bettmann/Getty; Mel Bouzad/Getty

Bettmann/Getty; Mel Bouzad/Getty

The commission voted unanimously on Thursday to designate Monroe’s home, located at 12305 W. 5th Helena Drive, a historic property, with commissioners noting that although Monroe only lived at the property for a few months, it was the only home the Hollywood icon ever purchased herself. It’s also the home where she tragically died at the age of 36 in 1962,

However, the house’s future isn’t entirely secured.

In Los Angeles, designation as aHistoric-Cultural Monument"does not guarantee that the property cannot be demolished," according to the city, but it does allow the Commission to delay demolition for 180 days while other opportunities for preservation are determined.

Marilyn Monroe’s Brentwood home.Anne Cusack/Los Angeles Times via Getty

Anne Cusack/Los Angeles Times via Getty

The property was facing the possibility of destruction after the Department of Building and Safetyissued a demolition permitto its current owner, Glory of the Snow Trust on Sept. 5.

Days after it was issued, the L.A. City Council meetingunanimously voted to temporarily suspend said permitamid public outcry.

Glory of the Snow LLC purchased the home in 2017 for $7.25 million, according toThe Real Deal, before atrust of the same name bought it for $8.35 millionin July 2023. After less than two months, however, they filed to tear it down.

L.A.’s Office of Historic Resources performed various assessments in the weeks following the issuance of the permit to recommend that Monroe’s Spanish-style abode be permanently protected and designated a historic site.

Scott Fortner, a historian, collector, and host of theAll Things Marilyn Podcast, has played a key role in saving the house as part of the Monroe Preservation Group, which he says has “worked tirelessly for months researching and documenting the history of Marilyn Monroe’s former and final home.”

The group has found historical significance in the house well before the blonde bombshell’s tenure. “Our efforts and research, which was shared with today’s deciding body, concluded that famed historic Los Angeles architect Harbin Hunter not only lived at the home, but he also very likely designed it.” The evidence lies in the famous tiles at the front door of the house, which read, “Cursum Perficio,” the hunter family motto, which translates to “I will persevere.”

An aerial view of the house where actress Marilyn Monroe died is seen on July 26, 2002 in Brentwood, California.Mel Bouzad/Getty

Mel Bouzad/Getty

Monroe purchased the 2,624 sq. ft. hacienda for $77,500, shortly after parting ways with her ex-husband, playwright Arthur Miller, in February 1962.

The stucco home was built in 1929 and features four bedrooms, three baths, beamed ceilings, a grassy courtyard, gardens, a swimming pool, and more.

A presentation delivered ahead of the vote explained how, in her short time living there, Monroe spent roughly $51,000 refurbishing and renovating the home. When adjusted for inflation, that comes out to more than $500,000.

In an interview withLife Magazineshortly before her death, Marilyn described the property—specifically an apartment attached to her garage—as “a place for any friends of mine who are in some kind of trouble.” The actress then mused, “maybe they’ll want to live here where they won’t be bothered till things are OK for them.”

Shortly after that home tour, the actress died at the house in August 1962.

source: people.com