Emotions Still Run Deep

Zimmerman House teardown news broke a year ago, but its story is refusing to die
By Adriene Biondo
Fridays on the Homefront
The Eichler Network broke the tragic story of the demolition of architect Craig Ellwood's Zimmerman House shortly after the home was leveled in early 2023. Today, the story is still very much alive. The rendering above is a front elevation of the proposed Zimmerman House 2.0, a tribute to the lost home that's planned to be built on the East Coast. Rendering: courtesy Group B Studio

Some news stories fizzle out of the starting gate, others have lives of their own and never seem to die.

Then there's the case of the Zimmerman House, the single‐story mid‐century modern home in Los Angeles' Brentwood area by esteemed Case Study House architect Craig Ellwood that was torn down in February 2023.

We broke the tragic tale of the surprise demolition shortly after the home was leveled, but only a handful of other reporters chimed in. The story seemed to quietly fade away.

 

Fridays on the Homefront
Early shot of the Zimmerman House, 1953. A 'modern farmhouse mansion' will soon be built in its place. Photo: Julius Shulman © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)

Then, in April of this year, all hell broke loose. The Zimmerman demo abruptly caught on with the media, mushrooming into a national story.

But why now? Perhaps, we surmised, because Hollywood's so‐called 'rich‐and‐famous elite' could finally be fingered as orchestrators of the 'dirty deed.'

When we originally reported the teardown, no celebrity tie‐ins had been disclosed. Then, two months ago, the property's owners—actor Chris Pratt and wife Katherine Schwarzenegger, Arnold Schwarzenegger's eldest daughter—came onto the scene when they announced plans to build a 'modern farmhouse mansion' on the cleared site.

 

  Fridays on the Homefront
Craig Ellwood with daughter Erin back in the day. Photo: courtesy Erin Ellwood
  

Oops, the dots were now getting connected—and in a big way. Pratt and Schwarzenegger alas were unveiled as the buyers of the Zimmerman House at 400 North Carmelina Avenue, a $12.5 million purchase in January 2023 that was leveled within weeks following the close of escrow.

Perhaps lost in the turbulent furor that followed were the feelings of Craig Ellwood's next of kin, who lost a piece of their family's legacy when the bulldozer showed up. We recently turned to the architect's daughter, Erin Ellwood, who was quite frank about her feelings.

"What he [Pratt] and his wife did was not a win‐win," says Erin, today an interior designer based in Southern California. "He's got to know it's got some kind of weight with an architect's name attached to it."

 

  Fridays on the Homefront
The bulldozer that took down the Zimmerman. Photo: Adriene Biondo
  

"I get all that wanting to be close to family, build a safe spot for family [and with a larger home], added Erin. "But could it [the Zimmerman House] not have been moved somewhere? Could he [Pratt] not have reached out to…Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where students built a Craig Ellwood house before? Could it have not been moved there, or materials been donated? That's more the way I would go."

In place of the Zimmerman House, a new farmhouse‐style home is set to be built, designed by Ken Ungar, a Los Angeles architect who has designed homes for basketball star LeBron James, actor Reese Witherspoon, and other celebrities. Ungar specializes in "traditional, transitional, and contemporary" style residences in California and Arizona.