Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger Level Historic Home in Favor of Mansion
If divisive celebrity couple Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger are trying to curry favor with the public or their Southern California neighbors, they are not doing a very good job. The pair is making headlines again — for once, not under Pratt’s ongoing mantle of “Worst Hollywood Chris” but for reportedly demolishing a historic $12.5 million home in Los Angeles to pave the way for a “modern farmhouse-style mansion.” Architecture purists, you’ll want to cover your eyes for the details on this one.
According to Robb Report, the duo purchased the famed Zimmerman House — a mid-century-modern marvel designed by architect Craig Ellwood and completed in 1950 — only to tear it down days later. Located on Carmelina Avenue in Brentwood, the home was (may she rest in peace) a one-story covering nearly 3,000 square feet. Though Pratt and Schwarzenegger’s mansion-to-be is still under construction, permit records obtained by Robb Report show the couple plans to build a 15,000-square-foot two-story home with a basement, swimming pool, pool house, and poolside cabana. The blueprint was designed by Los Angeles architect Ken Ungar, whose website describes his style as “modern” and “traditional.”
While the couple’s destruction of the Zimmerman House was first reported earlier this month, news of the demolition began recirculating on social media this week as design experts and redditors weighed in on the travesty. “It’s sad to see icons of modernism needlessly destroyed by insensitive McMansion seekers,” designer David Hill wrote, while another user noted, “Yet more proof that money can’t buy good taste.”
For non-Angelenos, it takes just one flashy Selling Sunset teaser to grasp that exceedingly generic farmhouse abodes are available on most every street in the greater L.A. area and are especially common in the Valley. If these two really wanted a basic, ranch-chic mansion, plenty of those are already built and ready for them to move in — no leveling of historic homes required! However, as Robb Report notes, the former Ellwood property sits across the street from Maria Shriver’s “two-house compound,” so it seems the couple is going to depressing lengths for a little more quality time with Mom. While the family awaits the completion of their upgraded pad, they’ll apparently be squatting in their previous home: a mansion in the Pacific Palisades that’s currently going for $30 million. Such an inconvenience!
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