Good Morning Lacquered Lifers! Last week I was fortunate enough to attend a lecture by Architectural Digest’s Mitchell Owens, on the subject of one of the great lady decorators, Ruby Ross Wood, and today I’m going to show some photos of the home she shared with her second husband Chalmers Wood. Little Ipswich, named  after Mr. Wood’s Massachusetts hometown, was built between 1927 – 1928 on forty three acres in Woodbury, Long Island. Designed by the revered classical architects Delano & Aldrich, Mrs. Wood had asked for a single story design so that she could have extremely high ceilings in every room.  According to Owens, the floor plan of the house was not ideal, as the second guest room could only be accessed by walking through the first, but it was an absolutely stunning house. Like so many of Long Island’s large estates, Little Ipswich was demolished in 1995 to make way for a housing development. What a loss.

Photos via The Devoted Classicist, Old Long Island, & Emily Evans Erdmans