Landscape architect Harry Baldwin left his mark on metro Atlanta. It is writ large in green.
During his nearly 60-year career, he designed all manner of botanical settings. Among the most prominent are the landscaping for Ebenezer Baptist Church and Wesley Woods seniors center, a wheelchair-accessible garden at the Shepherd Center, the master plans for the campuses of Morehouse College and West Georgia University, Gwinnett Technology Park and a number of marinas at Lake Lanier, including Baldridge, where he kept his own boat.
Jim King of Dawsonville, an architect and former employee, said he and Mr. Baldwin used to drive all over Atlanta going to and from job sites. "Harry would point out places along the way where he had done design work, and it seemed to me they were located on just about every other block," he said.
Harry Joseph Baldwin, 86, of Doraville died Friday at St. Joseph's Hospital of congestive heart failure. His funeral will be at 11 a.m. Monday at H.M. Patterson & Son, Oglethorpe Hill, with interment to follow at Westview Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Cherokee Garden Library at the Atlanta History Center, 130 W. Paces Ferry Road N.W., Atlanta, GA 30305, Attention: Staci Catron, director.
Mr. Baldwin was a mentor to many newcomers to his profession. "I think of Harry as the grandfather of landscape architecture in metro Atlanta," Mr. King said. "A lot of the people currently practicing landscape design here came out of his shop at one time or another."
Another architect and former employee, Roy Ashley of Dunwoody, said Mr. Baldwin taught him everything he knows about landscaping. "He was a meticulous planner, and his blueprints could be works of art," he said.
Mr. Baldwin is likely to influence landscape thinking into the future. Before his death, he donated a large collection of documents to the Cherokee Garden Library -- the plans he drew for more than 100 projects, his correspondence with clients, and before-and-after photos of some of his project sites. "The collection is a treasure for architects, urban planners and historians to study," said Staci Catron, the library director.
"Harry's designs were bold, nothing frail or indecisive about them," said Ed Daugherty, an Atlanta landscape architect and a classmate of Mr. Baldwin 60 years ago at the University of Georgia's School of Environmental Design. "We were competitors then, but we've had a happy relationship ever since."
Another of Mr. Baldwin's distinctive characteristics was respect for nature. "In every project he took on, Harry's aim was to relate all his changes to the site's topography. He wasn't one to destroy a site by grading it; instead he preserved its natural character as much as possible," Mr. Ashley said.
The American Society of Landscape Architects twice conferred its coveted design award on Mr. Baldwin, in 1984 for his plan for Emmie Smith Park in Lithonia and in 1985 for his renovation of DeKalb Memorial Park at Atlanta's eastern edge.
Parks were one of his favorite projects, Mr. Baldwin said in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution interview 25 years ago.
"They let people connect with nature and see open spaces and feel grass and the true things that you admire in life. They're long-lasting and enjoyed by many people both visually and physically, and they affect the lives of a lot of people. A condo only affects a few," he said.
Survivors include two daughters, Nanette Robinson of Franklin, Tenn., and Lynn Briggs of Cumming; a son, Bob Baldwin of Bentonville, Ark.; two brothers, Douglas Baldwin of Gainesville and Tom Baldwin of Powder Springs; seven grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
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