Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Chris Pratt And Katherine Schwarzenegger Called Out For Demolishing Historic House In LA

Chris Pratt with wife Katherine Schwarzenegger
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic/GettyImages

The couple sparked outrage from architecture fans after tearing down a mid-century modern house by architect Craig Ellwood to make room for their new farmhouse-style home.

Actor Chris Pratt and his wife Katherine Schwarzenegger drew the ire of architecture aficionados and preservationists when the couple demolished a historic mid-century modern home to create space for their 15,000 square-foot modern farmhouse.

The original home, located in Brentwood, California, was designed by Craig Ellwood, an untrained architect whose influential work proliferated in the Los Angeles area during the 1950s through the mid-1970s.


Ellwood was known as a true "design genius." His houses were featured in the experimental Case Study House series sponsored by Art & Architecture Magazine.

The Case Study Houses project commissioned major architects of the day, including Ellwood along with Richard Neutra and Edward Killingsworth, to design and build inexpensive model homes during the residential housing boom following the end of World War II.

The home that Pratt and Schwarzenegger razed was called the Zimmerman House, named after its previous owners, Martin and Eva Zimmerman.

The Zimmerman House was commissioned in 1948 and completed in 1950. It was a single-story five-bedroom mid-century modern valued at $12.5 million.

It is now relegated to the annals of LA architectural history.


 

Below, you can watch a clip showing the perfectly maintained house's interior, taken during the 2022 estate sale by TikToker Quinn Garvey.

The clip starts with the TikToker saying:

"Chris Pratt, you’re a weirdo for this one."
@vintageonq

Hurl!! I have a video posted back in December 2022 on the sale itself if you want to see more of the family’s collections. Is Brentwood too far gone?? #midcenturymodern #midcenturyhome #chrispratt #craigellwood #architecturelovers #modernfarmhouse

In January 2023, the Los Angeles Conservancy alerted to a "Demolition Alert" facing the "1950 Modernist residence."

The post stated:

"Designed by Emiel Becsky and working within architect Craig Ellwood’s office, he created a one-story, nearly 3,000 sq. ft. residence that appears to be highly intact and a noteworthy example of Modernist design from this era."
"The City’s SurveyLA program identified it as potentially historic, yet no protections are currently afforded."

At the time, they noted the motivation behind the demolition was "unclear" since it wasn't for sale and wasn't "transferred out of longtime ownership."

They campaigned to "immediately initiate Historical Cultural Monument (HCM) designation."

But the call to save and preserve the home came too late.

The Robb Report confirmed the Hollywood couple was behind the 74-year-old Zimmerman residence demolition, and the internet mourned its loss.


The couple paid $12.5 million in an off-market sale for the house.

To prepare for the new construction, all traces of the original landscaping were destroyed. The 0.83-acre grounds featured gardens and mature trees thoughtfully placed by modernist landscape architect Garrett Eckbo, who is also famous for his 1950 book Landscape for Living.


@ineffable_ollie/X

According to Architectural Digest, Pratt and Schwarzenegger's newly constructed farmhouse-style house will be a 5,000-square-foot-per-floor "sprawling two-story home."

The new home will be designed by Ken Ungar, whose portfolio of homes "range between traditional, transitional, and contemporary styles" according to his website.

Social media users who already thought Pratt was "the worst Chris" felt vindicated in their resentment towards the Guardians of the Galaxy actor.






Even Ellwood's daughter, Erin Ellwood, was disheartened by the news.

The Ojai, California-based interior designer told the LA Times:

“I think it would have been really cool to keep it and do something ... add to it in a really interesting, innovative way."
“But you know, maybe this just isn’t their style. I mean, it clearly isn’t if they’re building a farmhouse.”

It's worth mentioning that the property was apparently across the street from Schwarzenegger's mother, Maria Shriver.

In June 2018, Pratt began dating Schwarzenegger, an author and the daughter of actor and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger and journalist and author Maria Shriver.

The couple married on June 8, 2019 in Montecito, California, and they have two daughters, three-year-old Lyla Maria, and Eloise Christina, who is almost 2.

More from Entertainment/celebrities

Alex Cooper singing 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame'
@MBDChicago/Twitter (X)

'Call Her Daddy' Host Alex Cooper Gets Brutally Booed At Wrigley Field After Painfully Off-Key Singing

If there's one thing that all baseball fans can come together about, it's the importance of their traditions—and songs.

In the seventh inning at Wrigley Field during a match between the Cubs and the Cardinals, popular Call Her Daddy podcast host Alex Cooper was invited to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and brought two backup dancers with her.

Keep ReadingShow less
Linda Yaccarino
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

X CEO Resigns Day After AI Chatbot Grok Praised Hitler In Alarming Series Of Antisemitic Tweets

Linda Yaccarino—the former NBC Universal executive who later took the reins at X—stepped down as CEO of billionaire Elon Musk's platform after two years on the job just a day after Grok, the platform's AI chatbot, went on antisemitic rants and openly praised Adolf Hitler.

Grok issued deeply antisemitic responses on Tuesday following a reported software update that encouraged the bot to embrace what developers described as the “politically incorrect.” Taking that directive to heart, Grok responded with a series of disturbing posts that included praise for Hitler and even a statement expressing its aspiration to become a “digital version” of the Nazi leader.

Keep ReadingShow less
Black and white photo of a falling spider.
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

People Divulge Their 'Rare' Phobias That People Refuse To Believe

I am a SEVERE claustrophobic.

I have struggled with this issue for decades.

Keep ReadingShow less
Ted Cruz
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

'The Onion' Rips Ted Cruz With Brutal Headline After Yet Another Vacation During Texas Disaster

The satirical news site The Onion had social media users cackling with its brutal headline mocking Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz for once again being out of the country when Texas was hit by another deadly natural disaster.

Cruz faced considerable national backlash after he flew to Cancún while millions of people went without food and water as a result of the February 2021 Texas power disaster. At least 246 people were killed directly or indirectly; some estimates suggested as many as 702 people were killed as a result of the crisis.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk and Grimes
Kevin Tachman/Getty Images for Vogue

Elon Musk's Ex Grimes Calls X Platform A 'Poison' And 'Theatre' After Social Media Hiatus

Claire Boucher—who performs and creates under her stage name Grimes, but prefers her birth name or just "C" offstage—recently returned to her musical persona's social media accounts after taking a hiatus for her own well-being.

Once extremely active, she noted on X in April:

Keep ReadingShow less