A Moment of Silence

Daniel Berry Franklin, FASLA (1916-2004)

By Kerry Blind, FASLA

On March 7, 2004, Atlanta, Georgia, and the landscape architecture community lost a man who made great contributions to the beauty of our environment. Daniel Berry Franklin was born in Atlanta in 1916 and lived in Atlanta his entire life. He entered the field of Landscape Architecture when he graduated for a second time from the University of Georgia in 1963. Prior to that he had worked for Royal Crown Cola and served as a Master Sergeant in the U.S. Army?EUR??,,????'???s OSS during World War II. Landscape architecture was his second career and he has left an impressive legacy.

Dan Franklin practiced as a landscape architect for over 40 years and the products of his work effort are to be found in 10 states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia) and in his teaching at three institutions of higher learning. Beyond the landscapes he created, the University of Georgia, the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Georgia Chapter of the ASLA, the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, the Georgia Conservancy, the Southern Garden History Society, the Atlanta Botanical Garden, the Southface Energy Institute, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Atlanta History Center, the University of Arkansas, the University of Oklahoma, and readers of Southern Living Magazine have all benefited greatly from Dan?EUR??,,????'???s time and energy and enthusiasm for his profession. The body of Dan?EUR??,,????'???s work has been published in works such as Landmark Homes of Georgia 1733-1983, The Gardens of Georgia, and Classic Atlanta?EUR??,,????'??+Landmarks of the Atlanta Spirit.

A Fellow in the American Society of Landscape Architects, Dan left behind over 2,000 individual gardens, and the gift of the Dan B. Franklin Scholarship Endowment Fund for the School of Environmental Design at the University of Georgia. In Atlanta, Dan worked on the landscape at a number of private residences created by some of the area?EUR??,,????'???s more notable architects, Phillip Trammell Shutze, J. Neil Reid, and James Means. These include the Dr. Thornton Residence, the William Manry Jr. house, the Reid house, and the Plowden residence. Those of us who live in the Atlanta area are privileged to have access to a number of Dan?EUR??,,????'???s most notable public works. The Swan house and the Tullie Smith house at the Atlanta History Center come to mind first, but there are also landscapes at Barnsley Gardens, the Founder?EUR??,,????'???s Memorial Garden at UGA, the woodland garden at the Georgia Governor?EUR??,,????'???s Mansion, and one of Dan?EUR??,,????'???s most beloved gardens, the one he designed for his own ?EUR??,,????'??Nicholes-built?EUR??,,????'?? 1940s cottage in Collier Hills, ?EUR??,,????'??Franklin?EUR??,,????'???s Privy Garden.?EUR??,,????'??

The small ?EUR??,,????'??Privy Garden?EUR??,,????'?? was designed as an extension of his home, and features hundreds of plants, the famous ?EUR??,,????'??Franklin?EUR??,,????'???s Outhouse,?EUR??,,????'?? and for many years it was listed in the Garden Conservancy?EUR??,,????'???s Open Days Directory?EUR??,,????'??+The Guide to Visiting Hundreds of America?EUR??,,????'???s Best Private Gardens. Friends and strangers were welcome to visit the garden and explore it. Those who were still wandering about the garden after 5 p.m. were invited to join Dan for a drink.

This small in-town Atlanta cottage garden is really a series of formal and informal garden rooms. The design incorporates a number of interesting hardscape features. Various types of paving, fencing, walls, and a charming garden structure known as the ?EUR??,,????'??Outhouse,?EUR??,,????'?? located at the highest point in the garden, help to define the rooms and address the grade transitions. The cobblestones used in the patio and to edge the flowerbeds and lawn were salvaged from a demolition site, as were the stair treads, which are pieces of recycled granite curbing. The landing at the base of the stair is an old millstone, and at the far end of a small rectangular basin, water flows over a large limestone ball that was rescued from a neighbor?EUR??,,????'???s house.

A naturalized border of hellebores, jonquils, azaleas, mahonia, dwarf mondo grass, and various other plants creates the woodland walk that lines the edge of the garden and also forms a screen between it and the neighboring yard. A single English boxwood is planted in each corner of the more formal flowerbeds. In order to reduce maintenance, these flowerbeds are typically planted with a variety of bulbs and perennials. In early spring, in addition to jonquils, you are likely to see narcissus, tulips, iris, and foxgloves planted in the flowerbeds. Decorative terra cotta pots set on large squares of stone mark the corners of the lawn. The plant material in these pots has changed with the seasons. The design of the garden is simple and elegant, and Dan?EUR??,,????'???s passion for plants is clearly evident.

The garden was included in the Atlanta Botanical Garden?EUR??,,????'???s Gardens for Connoisseurs Tour in 1986 and again in 1996. In honor of the 20th anniversary of the Gardens for Connoisseurs Tour, Dan?EUR??,,????'???s garden will be included on this year?EUR??,,????'???s Tour, which takes place on May 8 and 9. This may be the last opportunity for the public to see the garden. For more information about the Gardens for Connoisseurs Tour, please visit the events listings on the Atlanta Botanical Garden?EUR??,,????'???s website at www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org.

Since the mid 1970s, Southern Living Magazine has consistently highlighted Dan?EUR??,,????'???s work in feature articles written specifically about his designs or as garden highlights in other articles. His gardens have appeared on six covers and many of the garden details shown inside the magazine, such as garden walls, brick pots, raised terraces, fences and posts, and motor courts can be attributed to Dan Franklin. John Alex Floyd Jr. of Southern Living Magazine said ?EUR??,,????'??Dan has been an outstanding landscape architect ?EUR??,,????'??? setting a classical standard of good design in residential landscape architecture.?EUR??,,????'?? And in his ASLA Fellows nomination, William Mitchell Jr., president of the Southern Architectural Foundation, Inc., observed: ?EUR??,,????'??Dan?EUR??,,????'???s professional influence, based in his native Atlanta, has been felt throughout Georgia, the South, and the nation: in his designs, his knowledge, and his advocacy.?EUR??,,????'??

We should all be so lucky to have such a nice legacy written about us.

A lot of the time, and with Dan especially, we have tendency to remember him for his more idiosyncratic nature and forget what a truly gifted designer he was. I can?EUR??,,????'???t tell you the number of times Dan would call me concerning ASLA or some legislation that threatened the profession to rail about one thing or another, but I knew that he was doing it out of love for our profession of landscape architecture. He would bend my ear about how necessary it was for senior landscape architects, including firm principals, to be actively involved in ASLA ?EUR??,,????'??+and he walked the walk.

Dan was well known at National for calling up and shaking the stick about, too. When he was nominated as a candidate to become a Fellow, I worried that that reputation would precede him. It probably did, but everyone recognized his value and merit to the profession and so elected him.

Dan cared deeply about his practice, the University of Georgia, his friends and the profession. He was a cantankerous old codger, but he was our cantankerous old codger and I, for one, will sorely miss him.

You may send a donation in Dan?EUR??,,????'???s honor to the University of Georgia?EUR??,,????'???s College of Environment and Design, School of Environmental Design, the Dan B. Franklin Scholarship Endowment Fund, 609 Caldwell Hall, Athens, Georgia 30602.