In 1919, Charles Erskine Scott Wood and Sara Bard Field purchased a beautiful 34-acre site overlooking Los Gatos as a refuge for their creative pursuits. They commissioned Robert Treat Paine to create two large statues to mark the entrance, and the cat statues, completed in 1922, were made of cast concrete originally tinted a soft brown for a natural, unpainted appearance. Wood and Field also retained architect Walter Steiberg to design their house, an Italian-inspired villa completed in 1925, which they named The Cats. C.E.S. Wood, born in 1852, graduated from West Point and served as aide-de-camp to General O.O. Howard in the Nez Perce War of 1877. Although they had met in battle, Wood and Chief Joseph later developed a deep respect and personal friendship. Wood earned a law degree at Columbia University, resigned from the military, and settled in Portland, Oregon, with his wife, Nanny Moale Smith, where he became a prominent attorney, cultural leader, and outspoken advocate of progressive causes. During this period he met Sara Bard Field Ehrgott, who shared his progressive views. Sara Bard Field, born in 1882, became active in the women's suffrage movement while living in Portland with her husband, Rev. Albert Ehrgott. In 1912, she helped lead a successful statewide campaign that won Oregon women the right to vote. In 1915, while living in San Francisco, she led a cross-country speaking tour and delivered a petition with over 500,000 signatures to President Woodrow Wilson. Five years later, women's right to vote was secured by the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Wood was a prolific published author and poet as well as an accomplished painter, and Field also became a recognized author and poet. They had a wide circle of friends, and The Cats became a gathering place for prominent artists, musicians, and intellectuals. They married there in 1934, and it remained their home throughout their years together. Field lived there until 1955.