Chris Pratt has sparked the ire of architecture experts after it emerged that the actor and his wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger, have demolished a historic, mid-19th century modern house to make way for a 1,390-square-foot mansion , The Guardian reports.
Chris Pratt and his wife bought the Zimmerman house. Photo: Guliver/GettyImages (Archive)
A year ago, the couple bought the 1950 Zimmerman house designed by architect Craig Ellwood in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles for $12.5 million. The residence was previously featured in Progressive Architecture magazine.
Most recently it was the home of the late Hilda Rolfe, widow of Sam Rolfe, co-creator of The Man from Uncle. A December 2022 video of the property shows a light-filled home that appears to have been well-kept, with large windows, hardwood floors, and mid-century furniture.
The one-story house and its grounds have since been cleared, and in its place will be built a massive house in the style of the modern cottages that have come to dominate US suburbs.
Architect Ken Ungar will design the house, according to Architectural Digest. The property, located across the street from Schwarzenegger's mother Maria Shriver, will also have a three-car garage and a poolside annex.
The Los Angeles Conservancy, a non-profit organization that seeks to save and protect historic buildings, called attention to the impending demolition in January and said the residence seemed “very intact and a noteworthy example of modernist design from this era“.
The city's SurveyLA program identified the property as potentially historic, but it was not protected, the preservation organization wrote on Instagram.
