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."
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.
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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.
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