Millionaires spark uproar by taking wrecking ball to historic homes to build ... trends now
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
