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.
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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.
