Craig Ellwood's Zimmerman House (1950-2024)

Limited Edition Commemorative Print (24"x36")



The Architect:  Jon Nelson Burke aka Craig Ellwood (1922-1992)

Burke grew up in Clarendon TX and moved as a child to California, attending Belmont High School in Los Angeles CA. He served in the Army Air Corps during WWII. In 1946, he started a construction company with his brother Cleve and the Marzicola Brothers under a new name, Craig Ellwood. It was taken, in part, from the Lords and Elwood liquor store downstairs from the construction company office. Part time, he was head of publicity for the Hollywood Bowl in 1947. He also worked as a model. The construction company failed and Ellwood went to work as a cost estimator for Jack Cofer of Lamport Cofer Salzman in Los Angeles. Ellwood did the cost estimating for the Charles and Ray Eames House in Pacific Palisades. He then designed the Lappin house in 1948. Ellwood left Cofer and started an architectural firm, Craig Ellwood Design, in 1949. Although he took structural engineering courses at UCLA, Ellwood was not a licensed architect. But that did not matter, to him or to his clients. Ellwood was a true design genius. Ellwood could sell and was a master of promotion. He had a red Ferrari and a perfect fit with the attention-getting lifestyle of Los Angeles. Derided by the jealous architecture profession of which he was formally not a part, he rose to public fame when three houses were included in the iconic Case Study House series of Arts & Architecture Magazine.

Although Ellwood's houses are still incredibly prized today, the 1950 Zimmerman House was not.  It was sadly destroyed earlier this year. 2770 sf. Designed with Emiel Becsky.  Landscape design by Garrett Eckbo; engineering by Mackintosh and Mackintosh; built by Leon Cherwin. Sold in the 1960s to Richard Kelton, who enlarged the kitchen, built by Jack Strauss. 

 The Zimmerman House Commemorative Print:  Designed by Adrian Volz

Adrian Volz is a graphic designer and author of Archiprint, architectural drawings, typefaces, and posters in a 20-page newspaper-style booklet.  Deeply devoted to graphic design, he's also a huge Craig Ellwood fan. 

These beautiful limited-edition prints, printed on heavy paper, 24" x 36" suitable for framing, are $99 each including USPS Priority Mail shipping.

Please allow 14 days for shipping, all done by staff and volunteers!

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