Jay Graham is a man who listens to the earth.
The president and founder of Graham Landscape Architecture, Graham specializes in bringing out the most in unique, historic and waterfront properties from Baltimore to the Eastern Shore. For Graham, the biggest challenge is designing a house or project to fit the land; it?s creating a structure or development that will help tell the story of the land and enhance the history upon which it?s developed.
“It?s all about the regional narrative and telling the story of the property,” Graham said. “If you can read the land for what that history is, you can make it more apparent for the current steward or owner and help them connect with it.”
Graham?s project list includes gardens at the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, the fountain at the governor?s mansion and the alter at Camden Yards when the Pope visited.
Today, he enjoys focusing more on residential properties. He works with homeowners who elect to build their property from scratch. Graham has the chance to help his clients make their property tell a story and bring out the history of the area.
“Unfortunately, I am not fluent in the language of landscaping and gardening, but Jay made that seem OK,” said Jeanne Ruesch, a homeowner on the Eastern Shore with whom Graham has worked on several projects. “He helped me describe my vision and interpreted what I described for our homes.”
After college, Graham worked at RTKL Associates, an architecture firm in Baltimore where he interned as a youth. But after a little more than a year, he decided to return to school to get his master?s degree in landscape architecture, something he had developed a real love for in college.
“In hindsight, looking back at my many projects in school, my best ones were site planning or other things that a landscape architect would do,” Graham said.
Following his master?s, Graham had several different jobs from the East Coast to the Midwest, and then back to Baltimore. Finally, in 1984, he elected to start his own company.
When he?s not busy working with clients, Graham enjoys sharing the outdoors with his family. For him, nothing is better than a relaxing walk down the trail on a beautiful spring day.
“I?ve always enjoyed the Appalachian Trail,” he said.
JAY GRAHAM
» First job: Mowing lawns in the neighborhood for $4 apiece when I was 13
» Education/credentials: A five-year Bachelor of Architecture degree and a master?s in landscape architecture from the University of Virginia
» Best job perk: Working with people, employees and clients
» Daily e-mails received: 12
» Essential Web sites: weather.com
» Career objective: I would like to win a national award from the American Society of Landscape Architects
» Favorite gadget: New digital camera and my compass
» Hometown: Annapolis
» Birth date: Oct. 8, 1946
» Original aspirations: Architect
» Sports/hobbies: Hiking, camping, sailing
