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Great Spaces A visual journal by Design Editor Wendy Goodman. The Office” It’s a strange, giant one-bedroom home,” Al Ravitz says of the residential or commercial property he and his partner, Take legal action against, a fiber artist, bought in 2018. The paintings on the floor are his, and the carpet is Moroccan. The sofa is by Martin Visser, and the chandelier is by Achille Castiglioni. Photo: Annie Schlechter
The majority of people could have torn it down,” Al Ravitz says of the 1929 nation house he shares with his other half, Take legal action against Ravitz. The property, which rests on 3 and a half acres in Wilton, Connecticut, had been owned for more than 5 decades by the president of a local hosta society who was mostly preoccupied with the landscaping. “Your home was in truly bad shape inside,” Sue states.
The couple– he a painter and psychiatrist, she a self-taught fiber artist who has revealed with the gallerist Patrick Parrish– own a studio home in Tudor City. They saw the run-down fixer-upper as a weekend home where they might host their grandchildren.
A year or two into their remodellings, they cleared out the location above the garage, which had been divided into four little bedrooms. They made it one excellent room that Al utilizes as an office and studio. Their contractor developed a wood structure to support the cathedral ceiling, which was completed with plaster by professional church restorers.
” They would bring little spray bottles of water and then smooth it with their hands. It was amazing viewing them,” Al recalls. “We have images of the material below. It’s extraordinary.”
The Ravitzes, who invested thirty years in Chicago, where Al was on the professors at the University of Chicago, fulfilled in the 1970s at a disco in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where Sue grew up. Al was currently a hobbyist buyer of Maxfield Parrish prints, beat-up old oriental carpets, and velvet Victorian furnishings, and collecting quickly became a joint effort.
” We truly didn’t understand anything,” says Al. “The bigger, the louder, the much better. That was our approach then.” Later, they pertained to value conceptual art. “We’re interested in things that are reductive and in the way that objects engage with one another or evoke a feeling that can’t be characterized verbally.”
Take legal action against’s own practice came late in life. “I was constantly doing workmanship, and when the kids left for college, I started fanatically knitting little squares, doing these color mixes,” she says. “And after that I did blankets and carpets.”
Her pieces are scattered around the home, where their furnishings adheres to a pared-down modernist visual. “We simply wish to find stuff that no one else has,” says Sue, who adds that Al has more than 400 signals on auction websites. One of them just recently showed up a chair by the Dutch business Droog for $1,500. “Not everything needs to look the exact same,” Al says. “But it needs to feel the very same.”
The Library The stained glass is original. The light is by Castiglioni. The wall sculpture is by Jesse Hickman. The paintings on the leading shelf are by Al, and the throws are by Sue. The big artwork above the Otto Zapf daybed is by Alain Biltereyst. Photo: Annie Schlechter
The Living Space The artwork above the Theo Ruth sofa is by David Schell. The painting behind the Sarah Burns armchair is by John Dilg. The side table is by Erwine and Estelle Laverne. The chandelier is by Castiglioni. The piece above the stairs and the 2 carpets are by Sue. Photo: Annie Schlechter
The Sitting Area The painting above the 19th-century Dutch chair is by Elise Ferguson. The storage is by Otto Zapf. The wall light is by Kristen Wentrcek and Andrew Zebulon, and the painting to its right is by Stacy Fisher. The circular painting is by Edward Movitz. The painted weaving on the wall in the background is by Sky Glabush. The rug below it is by Sue, who curates the Ravitzes’ gallery near Bryant Park, 57W57 Arts. Photo: Annie Schlechter 
The Cooking area The red cabinets are original.” The realty representative said,’ Everybody hates this cooking area. You’re going to alter it, aren’t you?’ We thought it was so cool,” Al says. The dice chairs are unattributed and the artwork above the windows is by Celeste Fichter. Picture: Annie Schlechter
The Bathroom The cent tile was included throughout the Ravitzes’ remodelling. The art work on the right is by Al and the pink piece is by Letitia Quesenberry. Picture: Annie Schlechter
The Main Bedroom The artworks are (from left) by Gwenn Thomas, Martà Cormand, Al, and John Dilg is over the bed. The bed is flanked by Dutch midcentury wall lights. The table beside the Chris Rucker chairs is by Roy McMakin. Picture: Annie Schlechter
The Landscaping “When we bought it there was nothing but hostas,” Take legal action against states. “We need to have some really rare specimen hostas.” The swimming pool was already in location. Photo: Annie Schlechter
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