Marilyn Monroe’s home could be demolished as owners file for Brentwood property to be torn down
The owners of the LA home where Marilyn Monroe lived before her death and where her body was discovered have filed an application to demolish the $8.35 million bungalow.
The Brentwood Hacienda-style home is best known as the final residence of the “Some Like It Hot” star.
In August, the home’s new owners officially filed a plan to tear down the estate, according to data from the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety.
The city gave the green light to investigators to review the demolition plan, but a formal permit has yet to be issued by officials, the data shows.
Monroe bought the house in February 1962 for $77,500, which is equivalent to about $790,000 today, taking into account inflation.
Her lifeless body was discovered just six months later on August 5. The icon had died of a barbiturate overdose at just 36 years old.
The owners of the LA home where Marilyn Monroe lived before her death and where her body was discovered have filed an application to demolish the $8.35 million bungalow.
In August, the home’s new owners officially filed a plan to tear down the estate, according to data from the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety.
The Brentwood Hacienda-style home, located at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive, is best known as the final residence of the “Some Like It Hot” star (pictured outside a previous home in 1956)
Photograph of the bed where actress Marilyn Monroe was found dead on August 5, 1962
The most recent owners of the 2,900-square-foot house first filed a request on July 31 to demolish not only the house, but also the adjoining pool house and outbuildings.
The application was then submitted on 7 August and officially approved on 5 September for a ‘plan check’ by an inspector.
The home was last publicly listed in 2017 and sold for $7.25 million.
At some point in the past six years, the house changed hands again for an undisclosed sum – worth about $8.35 million.
It is unclear why the new owner wants to demolish the house.
On 5 September, the Building and Safety Department officially signed the ‘plan check’, the first phase of the demolition process.
Originally built in 1929, the home has four bedrooms, three baths and is located at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood.
It has ‘privacy, tranquility and proximity to the restaurants and shops of San Vicente, according to a former Zillow mention.
“A truly remarkable property steeped in Hollywood glamour,” the listing reads.
In addition, the house has beamed ceilings, terracotta tiled floors, casement windows and a large grassy garden, swimming pool and citrus grove.
An oddly fitting message on the house’s front door reads “Cursum Perficio,” a Latin inscription that translates to “My journey ends here.”
The kitchen in the $8.35 million home once owned by Marilyn Monroe
The house features beamed ceilings, terracotta tiled floors and casement windows
Natural light floods into a room of the 2,900-square-foot estate where Monroe died
Monroe bought the house in February 1962 for $77,500
The property (in color) is a 2,900 square foot Hacienda style estate built in 1929
In the backyard, the house has a large grassy garden, a swimming pool and a citrus grove
On the day of Monroe’s death, a police officer stands in the backyard of the Brentwood home
However, an application from the Ministry of Construction and Security Affairs filed in July revealed that the owner wants to remove and fill the existing pool enclosure.
It wouldn’t be the first major change to the property if the request was approved by city officials.
The kitchen and bathrooms have undergone major renovations since Monroe’s death in 1962 and have passed through several different owners.
Immediately after her tragic overdose, six offers poured in within a day.
After a bidding war, the Nunez family of Southern California purchased the home in 1963, along with much of the home’s original furnishings.
An auction was later held in 1997 for Monroe’s personal effects.
The house increased in value in 2012 when it was bought for a whopping $5.1 million, just two years after selling for $3.8 million.
In its most recent public sale, the property sold for $7.25 million in 2017, about $350,000 more than its original asking price.
However, an application from the Ministry of Construction and Security Affairs filed in July revealed that the owner wants to remove and fill the existing pool enclosure
“Anyone who likes my house, I’m sure I can handle that,” Monroe told associate editor Richard Merryman in a 1962 interview with Life magazine.
Monroe’s body is wheeled out of her home in Brentwood on August 5, 1962
The bedroom in which Marilyn Monroe was found dead of an overdose on August 6, 1962
The house has been described as an ‘oasis’ and those who knew the actress said she was proud of it and ‘rejoiced in it’.
In 1962, Monroe talked about her house in an interview with Life magazine.
“I’m sure I’ll get along with anyone who likes my house,” she told editor-in-chief Richard Merryman.
After her death, Merryman wrote of Monroe’s relationship with the estate: “She exulted in it. On a special trip to Mexico, she had carefully searched roadside stalls, shops, and even factories for the right things to put in them. The big items hadn’t arrived and she never saw them installed.’