Henry K. Harding (1904-1984)

Born in Dedham, Massachusetts in 1904, Henry Knowles Harding was educated at St. George’s School, Newport, Rhode Island. He graduated from Princeton University in 1928, studied at the School of Fine Arts at Fontainebleau, Paris, and obtained his Bachelors of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania in 1931. After graduation he worked for Charles Fairchild Fuller in New York and in 1935, he became a registered architect in New York and Florida.

Harding moved to Florida and apprenticed with the firms of Wyeth, King, and Johnson and Howard Major. In 1936, Harding opened his own office in Palm Beach, and later in nearby Ocean Ridge, where he practiced for forty years and designed over 400 residences and villas. Harding was known for his neo-classical designs and distinctive Bermudian style roof lines. Among Harding’s major works are Deux Horizons, a lake to ocean estate in the south end of Palm Beach and the original St. Mary’s Hospital in West Palm Beach.