Esther Lape and Elizabeth Read, who bought the property that became Salt Mead in 1927, lived for their first two years there in the old Murdock farmhouse before deciding in 1909 to build a much larger house next to it. Designed in a rare New England version of an Italian Alpine “cascina,” the house was built of local fieldstone and wood and featured second-floor verandas intended to capture views of Long Island Sound just over a mile to the south. Lape and Read incorporated salvaged materials into the building, including wrought-iron railings Esther Lape obtained from the old Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, an antique marble fireplace mantle, and one hundred sixteen old doors from a Fifth Avenue mansion that became second-floor wall paneling. During the 1930s and 1940s, the spacious house became a gathering place where Lape and Read hosted not only friends but also formal conferences and informal discussions on healthcare for the poor, immigration, and international relations during the era of the Great Depression and World War II. Many conversations begun there led to invitations to the White House or Hyde Park to brief President Roosevelt and Mrs. Roosevelt, with whom the two women were very close.