The Spanish colonial-style house, in the leafy Brentwood area, became the subject of a row that pitted conservationists against an heiress to a billion-dollar fortune and her television producer husband.

Brinah Milstein and Roy Bank, who also own the home next door, bought the property for $8.35 million in July last year and wanted to bulldoze it to expand their estate.

However, Monroe fans and Los Angeles preservationists opposed the plans and have now won the battle after the city council voted unanimously to designate the property a cultural monument.

Kim Cooper and Richard Schave, preservationists who run the Los Angeles touring company Esotouric, had played leading roles in the campaign to save the house and spoke of their delight at the result.

“Many, many people are feeling great relief today because something they know is important is protected,” Cooper told The Times. “The city has done the right thing and they’ve put the memory of Marilyn Monroe and the significance of her place on this planet in the front of everyone’s mind.”