Biography:
Philip Martin Baldwin 82 of Dallas TX, and Little Rock, AR died March 3, 2026, after a brief battle with age related kidney disease.

Philip was a gifted architect, designer, builder, photographer and artist. His talents were evident from a young age, as a boy he built a tree house which he tried to make handicap accessible with pulleys and ropes for his younger brother Ralph, as a pre-teen he built a 4 ft. tall scale model of the Eiffel Tower of balsa wood so detailed and impressive the Arkansas Democrat sent a reporter and photographer for a story. Later, with his father, he built a Cris-Craft cabin cruiser, which the family used for many fun times on Lake Quachita, where Philip displayed a talent for water skiing and an athleticism he maintained all his life.

Philip’s talents were in his genes. His grandfather was a master carpenter, cabinetmaker, plumber, and electrician, who after gaining a large bonus for early completion of the rebuilding of the Arlington hotel in Hot Springs, in 1924, founded his eponymous company, now known as Baldwin-Shell Construction; one of the largest in the south, and builder of many historic and treasured buildings in Arkansas, such as Central High and Barton Coliseum. This was a history of which Philip was especially proud. His father Phill was also a builder, with a specialty in swimming pools. His mother, Betty, an RN, was an amateur artist, and raised Philip with a deep reverence and respect for nature, both flora and fauna, and love of family.

After graduating from Hall High in 1961, he attended Tulane University School of Architecture and Urban Planning graduating Summa Cum Laude in 1968. After briefly working in a couple of architectural firms, in San Francisco and Dallas, he went his own way and embarked on a career designing, building and patenting things as diverse as a coupling for a space frame structure, “an electric concert” in conjunction with the Rockefeller Center for Experiments in Television in 1972, video graphics including for PBS’s children’s show ZOOM, furniture-some sold by the Horchow Collection, retail shops and restaurants, and numerous residences, as well as a couple of planned communities, one for the Christian Science Foundation and one for Sri Swami Satchidananda.

Philip definitely lived his life by his own rules, but he had an indomitable spirit that kept him going. He was known to be able to repair anything. If he didn’t know how something worked he figured it out. He rebuilt cars most people would have scrapped. He built things, by himself, most people would not have thought up, let alone accomplished without help.

He loved life and his two children and loved nothing more than hearing their thoughts and seeing them happy. He will be missed by many friends with whom he loved having good conversation, and by his children who will forevermore wish they could ask him what he thinks.

He is survived by his daughter Katherine McLees and son-in-law Fergus Finnell of Little Rock, his son Philip Gaines of Dallas, and his two brothers Ralph, of Jackson, MS and family, and Stephen of Bozeman, MT and family. 


There will be a gathering celebrating Philip’s life on April 22 (Earth Day) at Murray Park Pavilion 5. There will be music, memories, food and fellowship. There will have lots of grilled salmon and cold beverages. Please bring a side dish for pot luck.