Chris Pratt and wife tear down historic modernist house

[sputnik]

like i needed more reasons to dislike these assholes. this just adds to their MAGA vibes. 



Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger Are Building a Brand New House in Place of a Historic Midcentury Modern Pad

The couple bought and razed a circa-1950 home designed by modernist architect Craig Ellwood

By Katie Schultz



April 9, 2024





Look away or face heartbreak, fans of midcentury modern architecture. Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger have been at work overseeing the construction of a brand new 15,000-square-foot home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles since late last year. In November, the Daily Mail reported that the couple were building the mansion on an empty lot, conveniently located right across the street from the estate of Schwarzenegger’s mother, Maria Shriver. However, a recent Robb Report article reveals that when the Guardians of the Galaxy star and the self-help author bought the property, it featured a historic home, which they had razed.


The abode in question was known as Zimmerman House, a 1950 build by acclaimed modernist architect Craig Ellwood, who participated in the famous Case Study Houses program. Spanning 2,770 square feet, the single-story dwelling had five bedrooms and three bathrooms. Original landscaping by designer Garrett Eckbo was also reportedly torn up.



Photos of the former dwelling on US Modernist show a living room with a brick fireplace, sliding glass doors that open to the backyard, and an eat-in kitchen with a light fixture shaped like a flying saucer.



In its place, Pratt and Schwarzenegger commissioned architect Ken Ungar to design a sprawling two-story home, with each level measuring in at roughly 5,000 square feet. The couple, who paid $12.5 million for the nearly one-acre property in an off-market January 2023 deal, also obtained permits for a three-car garage and a poolside ADU. The seller was the estate of Hilda Rolfe, the late widow of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. co-creator Sam Rolfe.

Pratt and Schwarzenegger, who share two children, are still trying to sell a nearly 13,000-square-foot Mediterranean-style Pacific Palisades home that they listed last summer for $32 million.

www.architecturaldigest.com/story/chris-pratt-and-katherine-schwarzenegger-are-building-a-brand-new-house-in-place-of-a-historic-midcentury-modern-pad


-----------------------

Robb Report article: 


SHELTER CELEBRITY HOMES

APRIL 8, 2024

Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger Just Tore Down This Stunning Midcentury Modern Home

The Hollywood couple bought the $12.5 million property last year and wasted little time in demolishing the existing structure, designed by famed architect Craig Ellwood.

Modified on April 12, 2024 , Published on April 8, 2024

By JAMES MCCLAIN





Last year, preservation-minded fans of midcentury modern architecture were devastated when another one of L.A.’s historic gems was surreptitiously demolished with little warning. Located on one of Brentwood’s most prestigious streets, the so-called Zimmerman House by modernist architect Craig Ellwood was razed in a matter of days. In its place, a new and much larger mansion is currently rising.



According to the USModernist nonprofit, the Zimmerman house was commissioned in 1949 by Martin and Eva Zimmerman, and completed in 1950. Once featured in Progressive Architecture magazine, the 0.83-acre estate featured gardens and mature trees carefully placed by esteemed landscape designer Garrett Eckbo. Inside, the blocky modernist structure offered five bedrooms and three bathrooms in 2,770 square feet of single-story living space.



Completed in 1950, the Zimmerman House was one of pioneering modernist architect Craig Ellwood’s earliest projects.

JULIUS SCHULMAN/THE J. PAUL GETTY TRUST/GETTY RESEARCH INSTITUTE


The house changed hands in 1968 and again in 1975, when it sold for the paltry sum of $205,000 to Sam and Hilda Rolfe, he the co-creator of the classic 1960s spy series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and the CBS series Have Gun — Will Travel. Sam Rolfe died in 1993, but his widow Hilda continued to own and reside at the property until her own death nearly 30 years later.



Although the Zimmerman house was never listed on the open market, the property was quietly sold last January, just months after Hilda’s death, for $12.5 million. The off-market buyers were Hollywood actor Chris Pratt and author Katherine Schwarzenegger, who wasted little time in demolishing the midcentury structure to make way for their own new Brentwood dream home—which is currently still in the early stages of construction.



After buying the property for $12.5 million, Pratt and Schwarzenegger quickly razed the house.

GOOGLE EARTH


Permit records indicate the upcoming new house, which stands two stories tall and includes a full basement, was designed by L.A. architect Ken Ungar, perhaps one of the Westside’s most prolific and successful designers of large modern farmhouse-style mansions.



The property will also contain a backyard swimming pool, plus a pool house or poolside cabana of some sort. No word about whether it will feature a full-size tennis court, however, as the original Zimmerman property did.



The Zimmerman House (right) sits almost directly across the street from two Brentwood homes owned by Maria Shriver.

GOOGLE EARTH


It’s probably little wonder that Pratt and Schwarzenegger selected the Zimmerman house as the lot they wanted, because the tree-shaded property happens to sit almost directly across the street from a two-house compound owned by Schwarzenegger’s mother Maria Shriver. Other nearby neighbors include Arianna Huffington and Sofia Richie.



While they wait for their new Brentwood digs to be completed, Pratt and Schwarzenegger continue to own their “old” house, a heavily renovated mansion in the hills of Pacific Palisades. The contemporary Mediterranean-style manor, given an extensive refresh during the couple’s tenure, remains on the open market, asking $30 million.

robbreport.com/shelter/celebrity-homes/chris-pratt-katherine-schwarzenegger-house-brentwood-1235575063/

[greysfang]

Assholes are gonna asshole.

[imnotbitter]

Oh, fuck these assholes!  Ugh, modern farmhouse 

[sputnik]

Of course it’s modern farmhouse

[constancespry]

Philistines! Exactly what I expected from him, and her by association.

[tulip]

I hate it when people do this.

[waterslide]

What the fuck is wrong with his brain? It’s not just that he’s dumb, he has to put effort into being this big of a douche nozzle.

This actually hurts physically.

[Taniwha]

Worst Chris.

[loftybike]

And then they aren't as wholesome as they want people to believe.

[eatsleepbeer]

Let's hope the Zimmermans haunt the fuck out of their new build. 👻

[no1novice]

That would be awesome.

I get they wanted to be close to the MIL but ugh. Why wasn't it a protected home?
Why did they get permits?
Who did they bribe?

[sputnik]

this story just keeps getting worse. and i hope they keep getting shit for it.
these people belong in gated communities in the valley with the kardashians. 



Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger Demolished a Craig Ellwood, and the Internet Is Furious

The celebrity couple reportedly plan to build a 15,000-square-foot modern farmhouse on the lot to replace the midcentury—and the news has more than preservationists up in arms.

Text by

Marah Eakin






It seems that L.A.’s thirst for massive modern farmhouses knows no bounds: last week, news broke that Chris Pratt and wife Katherine Schwarzenegger quietly bought then razed the 74-year-old Zimmerman House by Southern California modernist architect Craig Ellwood with plans to build a 15,000-square-foot residence in the increasingly ubiquitous, though contentious style. As first published by Robb Report, the couple reportedly paid $12.5 million in an off-market sale for the midcentury house in Brentwood, which marked one of Ellwood’s earliest projects. They also tore up all of modernist legend Garrett Eckbo’s original landscaping, effectively turning the nearly one-acre lot into one flat slab.



Los Angeles-based modernist architect Craig Ellwood completed the Zimmerman House in the Brentwood neighborhood in 1950. It marked one of his earliest projects.


Though Pratt already has a few detractors online, with a portion of the internet dubbing him "the worst Chris," news of the demolition has soured people even further—but it’s not just preservation activists sharing their anger on social media. X user @pastaversaucy wrote, "Special place in hell for people who do this, go buy a readily made McMansion instead you dumb b****!!!," subsequently posting: "Tearing this down, for what?? Floor to ceiling black and white marble with no soul?" In a retweet of the above, X user @caitiedelaney added, "Maybe I’m different but I would have a hard time sleeping soundly if I spent $12.5 million on this house only to tear it down." Members of the Midcentury Modern subreddit agreed, posting comments like, "Yet more proof that money can’t buy good taste," and "I know its[sic] just material but sincerely, burn in the deepest pits of hell bro," in response to a TikTok from Quinn Garvey (@vintageonq) that starts, "Chris Pratt, you’re a weirdo for this one," and currently has 38,800 likes.



In Garvey’s video, which she took inside the Zimmerman House during the 2022 estate sale, you can see the home’s original fixtures and structures, many of which were featured in Julius Shulman’s 1953 photos of the property—and still seemed to be in good if not great shape. (Some were even sold on 1stDibs late last year, prior to demolition.) Garvey says that when she heard the news, she was surprised, even though this isn’t her "first rodeo" in terms of estate sales in subsequently demolished homes. "I remember going through it, and it was such a pleasant experience," she says. "I thought it was in great condition. I’ve been to estate sales in houses that were a little dilapidated or you can see the water damages or the hinges of the cabinets are falling off, but that house had such a different feel to it. I never thought it was gonna go. It’s just like, Really? You had to do that?"


watch the video here: 
www.tiktok.com/share/video/7347582840004988165?referer_url=www.dwell.com%2Farticle%2Fchris-pratt-katherine-schwarzenegger-demolished-craig-ellwood-zimmerman-house-and-the-internet-is-furious-176c7c46-093eaa4e&refer=embed&embed_source=121374463%2C121409638%2C121404359%2C121351166%2C121331973%2C120811592%2C120810756%3Bnull%3Bembed_card_play&referer_video_id=7357072131852602667

Of course, the preservationists are also quite upset—and vocal. Nonprofit Save Iconic Architecture called the demolition "devastating" in an Instagram post, with at least one commenter likening the couple’s choice to "buying a Rothko for the frame." The architectural preservation advocacy group’s cofounder, interior designer Jaime Rummerfield, says she more than understands the internet’s collective disgust, likening it to "an endangered animal that just got poached again" and saying that it’s "neglectful" for architect Ken Ungar, who’s been commissioned to build the couple’s new modern farmhouse-style mansion, to not even attempt to incorporate the existing structure into their vision. "Shame on them for not wanting to keep something so special," she adds.



Part of the reason people are angry is because, realistically, the couple didn’t actually have to demolish the residence. They reportedly purchased the house because Schwarzenegger’s mother, Maria Shriver, lives right across the street, raising the question of whether there were other properties on the block they could have pursued. Some, like L.A. architect John Dutton—who actually grew up in one of the adjacent homes Shriver razed to build her compound—have also questioned whether Pratt and Schwarzenegger could have added to the existing footprint, saying that, while amending the Ellwood-designed property would have taken longer and cost more, the result would have been a home that was more special, rather than "a weird, emblematic three-dimensional advertisement of status."


Celebrity couple Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger reportedly bought the Ellwood-designed midcentury residence for $12.5 million in an off-market sale, then demolished the home with plans to build a modern farmhouse-style mansion in its place.

And while the home’s 2,770 square feet is modest by today’s big money real estate standards, realtors like Take Sunset’s Rob Kallick agree that, had the house hit the open market, it would have generated a lot of interest, even at that steep price point. "Craig Ellwood homes elicit a very strong emotional response from buyers," he says. While he admits that there is a limited pool of buyers for a $12.5 million architecturally significant home, "there are many wealthy people who deeply understand how valuable that house could be to preserve and restore, even if it’s kind of small-ish, relatively speaking." A Richard Neutra house that just went on the market in L.A.’s Silver Lake neighborhood is already in contract, for instance, with Kallick saying showings were "a complete madhouse."



Many commenters decrying the demolition asked why the house wasn’t protected, saying that it should have been on some sort of historic list. Rummerfield says that the reality of the matter is that the city of L.A. has been incredibly lax about that sort of designation for years, passing the onus onto citizens and architectural fans in the community. There’s no head of preservation in the city government, either, so when appeals or requests for historic designation are submitted to places like the planning committee or the Office of Historic Resources, they can sit for years before even being addressed, during which time the homes or buildings in question may either fall into disrepair or disappear altogether.



"We need a chief of preservation who really connects the dots between things like Survey LA and what’s actually going on at each address," Rummerfield says. "Even if you’re just talking about the top three percent of notable buildings that should be saved, or saying making blanket designations, like ‘all Paul R. Williams’ or ‘all Craig Ellwood,’ L.A. needs to stop passing the buck on preservation."



Top photo of the 1950 Zimmerman House by Craig Ellwood; photo by Julius Shulman, courtesy © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles

www.dwell.com/article/chris-pratt-katherine-schwarzenegger-demolished-craig-ellwood-zimmerman-house-and-the-internet-is-furious-176c7c46-093eaa4e

[czb]

i assumed they razed it because the house was in poor shape. but this article indicates otherwise so taking down the house makes no sense. and killing all that heritage landscaping? oy. a lot that big would still allow for a play court and ADU without gutting everything. awful.

[dechayz]

Piece of shit animal abuser. Which makes me so mad because I really liked Andy Dwyer

[MsDark]

Ugh. Fuckwads. Not surprised in the least.