10222 Highway 1: The John Layte House

Architecture Style: Gothic Revival

Built: 1859-1871

This property was “part of the real estate of the late John Starratt”, in the 1843 deed of Enoch Steadman.  John was an early settler here, son of Planter Peter Starratt.  Enoch later sold his 300-acre farm to Capt. Thomas Freeman.

In 1859 John Layte, from the  Roxbury logging community, bought this property, which stayed in the Layte family until 1913, when his son  Hardy, or Harding, bought  Amelia Phinney’s house on the highway and sold this one to Lucy Fowler Lang. Lucy was the sister of Ellen Fowler James, the namesake of  “Ellenhurst ”, and of Clara Fowler Starratt, wife of Benjamin, the prominent merchant on Paradise corner.  When Hardy Layte agreed to sell his house to Lucy, it seemed that the three sisters would be together here. But it was not to be. Ellen’s husband William died in 1913, and she went back to Bermuda and did not return. Then  Lucy’s husband died in 1914, and Lucy, at age 62, 10 days later.

Another prominent widow bought the house and lived here briefly.  Anna Goodspeed and her famous husband, The Rev.  Calvin Goodspeed, had built a large Queen Anne style home nearby.  On her own, Anna, chose this smaller home, still a pleasant country place.

The Robinsons were here for some years.  Mrs. William Robinson was sister to a Mr. Logan who was blind. Tragically, he died in a fall down the stairs at the old Goodspeed house.

Jim and Viola Durling lived here with their eight children: Shirley, Charles, Mary Lou, Robert, John, Paul, Judy, and David.  Of their children, we mention  Robert and Nancy [Covert], whose beautiful gardens at their home in West Paradise were a welcome gift.

Lawrence and Nancy Caldwell bought the house from Ruby Phinney, because, like all previous owners, they were drawn to the “quaint house back off the road.”  Their children, Donna, Blair, and Andrew, grew up here, and Nancy was appreciated for all her volunteer work in Paradise, and for her friendship.