Detail of the John. H. Layton house, Layton. Photograph by Peter L. Goss.
William Allen's Clients: A Socio-economic Inquiry BY G I , E N M. L E O N A R D
I N THE 1890s ARC:HiTECT-BinLDER William Allen designed and built several handsome high-style brick homes for clients in central Davis County. Peter Goss introduces the clients in his study of seven of the surviving homes and their architect in this issue of the Quarterly.^ His architectural analysis opens the door to further inquiry into the socio-economic environment of the seven clients who commissioned these late Victorian, high-style brick homes in Kaysville and Layton, Utah. Goss identified three avenues to the study of the client families. These include (1) their common British origin, (2) numerous, close kinship ties, and (3) a common involvement in local agribusiness. Dr. Leonard, a Utah historian and museum administrator, serves on the Achisory Board of Editors of Utah Historical Quarterly. This paper is an expanded version of a commentary deli\eied in November 1982 at the symposium on Utah architectural history. 'Peter I.. Cioss, "William Allen, Architect-Builder, and His Contribution to the Built Eiuironmeni of Da\ is County, " pp. 52-73.
