Bejamin Jewett Ricker was born and raised in Grinnell, Iowa and graduated from Grinnell College in 1891. After four years of travel, he returned to Grinnell to work for Morrison, McIntosh and Co., a local manufacturer of gloves. Ricker later partnered with Morrison to form the Morrison-Ricker Glove Company, which grew into a successful nationwide business. In 1910, he decided to build a new house on Broad Street, seven blocks north of his glove factory.
It is unknown how Ricker came to know Walter Burley Griffin or his work. It is possible that he was introduced to the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, and thus to Griffin, through a connection with his wife. Mabel Tomlinson Ricker was originally form Oak Park, Illinois, where Wright maintained a home and studio and where many of his renowned buildings, mostly houses, were constructed. It is also possible that he met Griffin through Dr. Elbert W. Clark, Jr., another businessman in Grinnell, who had invited the architect to design a housing subdivision, immediately north of Ricker's property on Broad Sreet. The subdivision was never built.