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Last year, actor Chris Pratt and his wife, author Katherine Schwarzenegger, purchased for $12.5 million an off-market, historic midcentury modern home in LA designed by influential architect Craig Ellwood with landscaping by the celebrated Garrett Eckbo, known as a pioneer of modern landscaping.
Now the couple is being blasted on social media after Robb Report broke news that they had razed the Brentwood property to make way for construction of a new 15,000-square-foot home, which is conveniently located across the street from a house owned by Schwarzenegger’s mother, Maria Shriver.
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The Zimmerman House ca. 1953 | Credit: Julius Shulman, Courtesy © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles
The Zimmerman House was commissioned in 1949 by Martin and Eva Zimmerman and completed in 1950, according to US Modernist, and was featured in Progressive Architecture magazine.
The property was sold in 1968 and again in 1975, for a bargain $205,000, when Sam and Hilda Rolfe became the owners. Mr. Rolfe co-created a 1960s spy series called The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and the CBS series Have Gun — Will Travel. Mr. Rolfe passed away in 1993, but Hilda continued to own the home until she died in 2022. The property sold off-market to Pratt and Schwarzenegger in January 2023.
The Zimmerman House ca. 1953 | Credit: Julius Shulman, Courtesy © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles
The single-story home, which sat on 0.83 acres, spanned 2,700 square feet across five bedrooms and three bathrooms. Archival photos show the home featured several midcentury modern themes, including floor-to-ceiling windows to promote indoor-outdoor living, mod furniture and a flying saucer-shaped light fixture in the kitchen.
In its place, a two-story house with a full basement, designed by LA architect Ken Ungar, is in the works, according to Robb Report. The estate also features plans for an outdoor swimming pool, as well as a pool house or poolside cabana.
The Zimmerman House ca. 1953 | Credit: Julius Shulman, Courtesy © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles
The non-profit group Save Iconic Architecture said in an Instagram post that it was “absolutely devastated” over the demolition, with compounded “disappointment” at learning of Pratt and Schwarzenegger’s involvement in the destruction.
“They are absolutely horrid for doing this to that piece of history,” Instagram user 12kelleymac commented on Save Iconic Architecture’s post. “Basic level 🗑️ at its finest.”
A user on X who goes by the name @PastaVersaucy wrote in response to the news, “Special place in hell for people who do this, go buy a readily made McMansion instead you dumb b$&*h!!!”
@PastaVersaucy later commented, “Tearing this down, for what?? Floor to ceiling black and white marble with no soul?”
The Zimmerman House ca. 1953 | Credit: Julius Shulman, Courtesy © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles
The Zimmerman House was also reportedly not in bad shape, exacerbating frustration among onlookers. TikTok user Quinn Garvey, who uses the handle @vintageonq, attended an estate sale held at the property in 2022 and shot video while inside the home, which reveals original fixtures and structures that are in good condition.
“I thought it was in great condition,” Garvey told Dwell of her visit inside the home. “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?”
Pratt and Schwarzenegger are also currently in the process of selling a 13,000-square-foot Mediterranean-style property in Pacific Palisades that they put on the market last August for $32 million.
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