Celebrity couple Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger are now under fire for demolishing a historical home built in the mid-century to make way for their 15,000-square-foot mansion.
The couple became the subject of backlash in the architectural preservation community when it was revealed that they had demolished a $12.5 million historic home in Brentwood, California, that was designed by the late modernist architect Craig Ellwood.
What Makes the House Historical?
The house was built in the late 1940s and early 1950s after it was commissioned by Martin and Eva Zimmerman. The property sat on a 0.83-acre estate and featured five bedrooms and three bathrooms in a single-story living space. The property also features large sliding glass doors that open onto a backyard designed by the famed landscape architect Garrett Eckbo. The landscape was also destroyed.
The Brentwood home, nicknamed the Zimmerman House, was one of Ellwood's earliest projects, per Robb Report. Ellwood's works are rare.
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Erin Ellwood, daughter of the late architect, said there would have been a better way to update the property.
"I think it would have been really cool to keep it and do something ... add to it in a really interesting, innovative way," Ellwood said. "Is there something more creative that could've been done in the process of taking it away that could've given it some honor?"
The Zimmerman House is identified as a potentially historic site by the city's SurveyLa program. However, it lacked the safeguards needed for its protection, as reported by the New York Post.
When Did the Couple Buy the Home?
The Zimmerman Home changed hands several times since it was built. It was first sold in 1968 and again in 1975, when it sold for $205,000 to Sam and Hilda Rolfe. While it was not listed on the open market, the property was quietly sold in January 2023, months after Hilda's death, for $12.5 million. That purchase was made by Pratt and Schwarzenegger.
Following the purchase, the couple demolished the Zimmerman home. In its place, the couple is putting up a two-story mansion designed by L.A. architect Ken Ungar. The property will include a full basement, a backyard swimming pool, and a pool house or a poolside cabana, Robb Report noted.
The Zimmerman House is located directly across the street from a two-house compound owned by Maria Shriver, Schwarzenegger's mother.
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