Americans tear down historic homes in the dead of night
- Historic homes are being demolished across the US in favor of bigger houses
- Actor Chris Pratt sparked fury after tearing down a 1950’s landmark home in LA
- Mid-century homes from Cape Cod to Phoenix also at risk of being ripped down
Historic homes are being torn down and replaced with modern mansions as a concerning new trend sweeps across the US.
The issue became a talking point in recent weeks after actor Chris Pratt and his wife Katherine Schwarzenegger demolished a 1950’s landmark home in LA to make way for an enormous farmhouse style mansion.
The celebrity couple bought the property in Brentwood, known as Zimmerman house, for $12.5million last year but tore it down upon purchase.
The pair are set to replace it with a sprawling 15,000 square-foot mansion that has angered preservationists who claim the move is part of a trend of buying historic homes for the land, demolishing them and erecting larger houses instead.
‘This situation isn’t isolated. We do lose houses like this more than we care to say,’ Adrian Fine, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Conservancy, told the Washington Post.
Chris Pratt tore down a 1950’s landmark home in LA to make way for an enormous farmhouse style mansion
The actor bought the property in Brentwood, known as Zimmerman house, for $12.5million last year but tore it down upon purchase
Chris Pratt and his wife Katherine Schwarzenegger are now building a larger mansion on the plot
‘We’re seeing more of these teardowns, because people see these as valuable plots of dirt’ Fine explained.
The issue of millionaires buying up valuable land and demolishing the historic homes on it is not confined to California.
A midcentury home designed by Al Beadle is at risk of demolition in Phoenix, Arizona.
A permit has been sought for Beadle’s White Gate residence despite it being considered a architectural icon in the area.
The 1954 home was built as a showcase of modernity at the time, and its white exterior contrasts with the red rocks of Camelback behind it.
The property was bought earlier this year by a limited company and a permit for its destruction has been filed, according to the Modern Phoenix.
Elizabeth Waytkus, executive director for the nonprofit preservationist group Docomomo US, told the Post part of the desire to demolish and build is because modernist homes become less convenient to run as their internal systems are beginning to fail.
It is also hard to find the workers who can fix ailing systems on technology installed around seventy years ago, according to Waytkus.
A demolition permit has been sought for Beadle’s White Gate residence despite it being considered a architectural icon in the area
The property was bought earlier this year by a limited company and a permit for its destruction has been filed
The 1954 home was built as a showcase of modernity at the time, and its white exterior contrasts with the red rocks of Camelback behind it
Two properties designed by Brutalist architect Marcel Breuer have come under threat
In one case Waltkus got in touch with a couple who had bought a home designed by the Brutalist architect Marcel Breuer to introduce herself and ask what they intended to do with the property.
‘The owner said to me, we understand what we have, we don’t plan on demolishing it, we want our grandchildren to be able to use it in the summertime,’ Waytkus told the Post.
Adding: ‘Two weeks later, it was gone.’
Over on the East Coast another Breuer home is at threat of demolition on Cape Cod.
Wellfleet Cottage, built in 1949, sits on four acres of pitch-pine woods.
Preservation charity The Modern House Trust has offered to buy the cottage and historic contents if it is able to raise $1.4 million of the $2 million purchase price by the end of next May, WGBH reports.
If they do not succeed it will be sold on the open market and likely demolished as the property’s land is worth more than the house.
Some architectural and preservation experts argue that Americans’ appetite for enormous homes is part of the demolition problem.
Wellfleet Cottage, another Breuer home is at threat of demolition on Cape Cod
A historic John Schmidtke house in Elgin will be demolished by a developer unless anyone is willing to move the building elsewhere
The 2,300-square-foot house was built in 1967 and was designated as a historic landmark in 1996
High Street Logistics paid $30 million for the property and four other neighboring parcels of land with plans to construct two light industrial buildings
The company is willing to let the Schmidtke house go for free if it is removed, but so far no plan has been settled on
The median single-family home built in 1973 was 1,525 square feet but rose to 2,383 square feet in 2022, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
However, some argue that criticism of such excess and shaming does not help preserve more historic homes.
‘It doesn’t do the preservation community any good,’ Waytkus told the Post.
We’re missing the point’ she added, explaining that only persuasion and restrictions will work.
However, even when a compromise is sought a solution is not always found.
Over in Illinois, a historic John Schmidtke house in Elgin will be demolished by a developer unless anyone is willing to move the building elsewhere.
The 2,300-square-foot house was built in 1967 and was designated as a historic landmark in 1996, but has been bought by a property developer interested in the land, the Chicago Tribune reported.
High Street Logistics paid $30 million for the property and four other neighboring parcels of land with plans to construct two light industrial buildings.
The company is willing to let the Schmidtke house go for free if it is removed, but so far no plan has been settled on.
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