Standish Backus

After a brief period in Maine studying watercolor under Eliot O'Hara, he relocated to Santa Barbara, in 1935 and began working full-time as an artist.

He transferred to a special graphic presentation unit in 1945 and spent the last year of the Pacific theater as a combat artist.

He returned to active duty in 1955 to 1956 to travel with Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd to Antarctica as part of "Operation Deepfreeze" to record images of the exploration.

His brother Charles Backus, who graduated from Princeton University, in 1939,[1] was killed in 1965 while foxhunting, when his horse failed to make a jump and fell on top of him.

The cost of the house, located on a 12-acre estate in Grosse Pointe Shores, was about $1,000,000 (at a time when gold sold for $35 per ounce).

The 40-room residence was in the Tudor style with a stone façade, prominent chimneys, mullioned windows, and elaborate wood work.