The battle of saving the legendary Walter DeGarmo designed home at 42 Star Island Drive in Miami, owned by Real Housewife of Miami star Lisa Hochstein and her plastic surgeon husband Leonard Hochstein, is far from over. It just got a little bloody! Literally!
Though The Miami Design Preservation League (MDPL), a small activist group in Miami, Florida, has been opposing the couple's decision to raze the residence down aggressively, they have only managed to stall the demolition for now. While the issue is still awaiting a decision and is being reviewed by the Miami Design Review Board, the Hochsteins decided to throw a "Scarface-Theme party" at the home and its walls are now completely blood-stained (fake blood of course!), much to the fury of the MDPL.
The home now looks like a scene from a blood-slashing horror movie where people were brutally murdered. In fact, the residence was used to film a few scenes of "Scarface".
"It looks like several people were recently murdered on the property, bloody handprints and all," Rob Bear of Curbed Miami reports.
Apparently, the couple don't plan to clean up the walls either. They had previously claimed that the home was too fragile and wasn't in great shape, which is why they sought demolition permits from the board. So, when they eventually plan on using the wrecking ball, why bother whitewashing the walls, right?
Check out the pictures of the bloody walls, here.
The MDPL must be super infuriated. The preservation league claims that the property is one of the most iconic architectural landmarks of Miami and tearing it down would just be cultural exploitation. Even after the Hochsteins received permission to raze it down, the league went ahead and appealed to a higher court which has stalled the demolition. The whole fight has led to Miami Beach declaring a "temporary moratorium" on all the demolitions in the region, reports NPR.org.
The issue has garnered a lot of public glare and speculation too. While one comment on a feature on the issue read:
"There was an International outcry from Architectural schools all over Europe in the 70's/80's to save the Art Deco buildings professors were using as examples. Miami was top of this list, It still is. Destroying architectural heritage is counterproductive."
Another said, "With global climate change and Florida just barely above sea level, why would anyone want to sink a ton of money into a beach house there?"
Well! The celebrities have their reasons!
Check out a video below where Leonard Hochstein gives a tour of the home and talks about the whole demolition issue: