Updated:
17 Mar 2013
Created:
17 Mar 2013
Oklahoman Archives
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma
January 1930January, 3, 1930, pg 10
Mrs. Layton Dies After Long Illness
Funeral Not Arranged for Wife of Architect.
Mrs. S. A. Layton, 63 years old, wife of the Oklahoma architect, died
Thursday afternoon at her home, 600 East Thirteenth street, after an illness of
two months.
Mrs. Layton had lived in Oklahoma City 15 years, coming, to this city from El
Reno. Her husband, of the firm of Layton, Hicks and .'Forsythe
has been identified with the construction of the state capital building, Skirvin
hotel, Petroleum building and other structures, including school houses
throughout the state.
Funeral arrangements for Mrs. Layton probably will be announce
Thursday, relatives said. The body is at the Hahn funeral home. 110 West Tenth
street. The widower. a daughter, Mrs. T. .1. Escoe, 433 East Thirteenth street,
Oklahoma City; a sister Mrs. Grant Perdue, Modesto, Calif., a brother, Leo E.
Wood, Cimarron, Kan., and three grandchildren survive.
Mrs. Layton Rites Set – Funeral services for Mrs. S.A. Layton, 63 years old,
600 E. 13th street, will be held Saturday afternoon at 2 o'clock at the Hahn
funeral home, 119 W. 10th street. Burial will be in
Rose Hill cemetery. Mrs.
Layton, wife of an Oklahoma City architect, died Thursday afternoon at her home,
after a two months' illness.
Also
LAYTON, SOLOMON ANDREW (1864-1943).
Layton practiced architecture in Oklahoma for
forty-one years, heading a firm from 1902 until his death in 1943.
His parents were Andrew and Jennette Miller Layton. Born in Lucas County, Iowa,
on July 22, 1864, into a family of carpenters and builders, Solomon Layton
learned their crafts as a boy. His architectural career began in Denver in 1887.
He moved to El Reno in 1902 and soon afterward established a practice in
Oklahoma City. With a succession of partners, including George Forsyth, S.
Wemyss Smith, Jewell Hicks, and James W. Hawk, he produced well more than one
hundred public, educational, and commercial buildings over the state and twelve
or more homes, including his own (now razed) house at Northeast Thirteenth and
Lincoln in Oklahoma City.
Solomon Layton married Alice Wood in 1885 and their union produced two
daughters, Fern and Agnes. The state's premier architect died on February 6,
1943, in Oklahoma City and was laid to rest in Rose Hill Cemetery.
source:
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/L/LA036.html
Oklahoman Archives
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma
February 7, 1973 pg 21
Sol Layton, Pioneer Architect, Was Leader in Civic Affairs
SA. “SOL” LAYTON, noted Oklahoma architect and designer of • Oklahoma’s state
capitol building, died Saturday noon at St. Anthony hospital after a week's
illness. He was 78 years old.
Services will be at 2 p. m. Monday at the Street and Draper funeral chapel.
Burial will be in the Rose Hill cemetery.
The head of the architectural firm of Layton and Forsythe was noted not only as
a designer of many buildings in the state but also for his work in civic
affairs. He is credited with having a major part in the moving of the state ,
capitol from Guthrie to Oklahoma City and was a member of the city planning
commission and welfare board.
Layton was born In Lucas county, Iowa, where as the son of a
carpenter he graduated from high school. His family was composed mainly of
carpenters and it was natural that he should become a builder. He studied
architecture under the one architect in his home town of Red Oak and progressed
from that point to become one of Oklahoma's most noted designers of public
buildings.
He made the "run" into the Cherokee strip in 1893 and soon
afterward established his offices in El Reno. He later moved to Oklahoma City
and had made his home here since that time.
Layton’s company designed many buildings throughout the state in
addition to a large number of Oklahoma City structures. Seventeen county court
houses scattered all over Oklahoma were designed by Layton and, in
addition To the state capitol, he drew up the plans for the state historical
society building. 28 school buildings in Oklahoma Citys school system. Including
Central high-school, five buildings at the state hospital at Norman, several of
the buildings on the University of Oklahoma campus, the Skirvin hotel.
Southwestern Bell Telephone building. Oklahoma Gas and Electric building, the
Municipal auditorium, Oklahoma county court house and others.
ALWAYS a rugged Individualist. Layton once tangled with the
census bureau because he refused to reveal what he paid for his haircuts. It's
none of their business.” said Layton. •'They'll be asking next how and when I
trim my toenail. It's just one survey after another. And every survey is costing
the taxpayers thousands of dollars. What good are they?
Layton once commented that his only hobby was ‘’trying to make
the world a better place to live In.” and Saturday his secretary for 22 years.
Mrs. Lenna Pugh, revealed that throughout his life he indulged in philanthropies
that not even his closes', friends and members of his family knew about.
Mrs. Pugh related that Layton founded a permanent account with
an Oklahoma City shoe firm to be used solely for the purchase of shoes for
school children who needed them. Between $400 and $500 was spent annually y the
architect.
He was instrumental in the founding of the city's Crippled
Children's school and donated all the furniture for the school himself.
"If he saw a ragged or hungry child on the street he brought him
to the office and had has family's financial status investigated and then bought
food, clothing and other needed things for them. He did this countless numbers
of times,” his secretary said Saturday.
Surviving are a son-in-law. T. J. Escoe. three granddaughters.
Anna-belle Escoe and Lila Ferne Escoe. both of the home address, and Mrs. Lowe
Runkle, 620 Northwest Forty-second street; a brother-in-law, Leon Wood, of the
home and a great-grandson. Layton Runkle, 620 Northwest Forty-second street.
...
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17 Mar 2013
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