Early Spring Thorncrown Chapel
Eureka Springs
Dusk Thorncrown Chapel
Eureka Springs
Eureka Springs
Daybreak Thorncrown Chapel
Eureka Springs
Spring Thorncrown Chapel
Eureka Springs
Winter at Thorncrown
Fall at Thorncrown
Eureka Springs
Early Evening Thorncrown Chapel
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Entrance Thorncrown Chapel
Eureka Springs
Dusk Thorncrown Chapel
Eureka Springs
Early Morning Thorncrown Chapel
Eureka Springs
E. Fay Jones is the designer of Thorncrown Chapel
Jones was a quiet and unassuming architect who preferred the quiet isolation of the Arkansas
mountains to the urban landscape. Jones ignored architectural trends and instead focused on
his own organic aesthetic with materials found in The Ozarks and familiar traditional forms
from his home region. Jones work focused primarily on the intimate rather than the
grandiose. Jones most renowned works are chapels and private homes rather than
skyscrapers.
Jones' Thorncrown Chapel was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000
despite being only 20 years old due to its exceptional significance.
Jones used Frank Lloyd Wright's principles and created buildings that had a distinct
Wrightian feel to them. Jones' most famous buildings are the Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka
Springs, Arkansas, the Mildred B. Cooper Memorial Chapel in Bella Vista, Arkansas, and the
Pinecote Pavilion at the Crosby Arboretum in Picayune, Mississippi. These buildings are
simple and transcendental creations of wood. Thorncrown Chapel was selected as the fourth
most favored building in a poll of the membership of the American Institute of Architects.
Thorncrown was also selected as the best American building built since 1980.
In addition to his remarkable buildings, Jones is also known for creating unique designs for
furniture and everyday objects such as the Fulbright Peace Fountain located at the University
of Arkansas main campus.
Jones is recalled as a gentle and unassuming man for whom a harsh word was completely out
of character. His partner, Maurice Jennings, stated that he had worked with Jones for 25 years
without an instance of emotional conflict.
Jones was a recipient of the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 1990. He was
accepted as a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1979 and as a Fellow of the
American Academy of Rome in 1980.
In 1997 Jones' John B. Begley Chapel was dedicated on the campus of Lindsey Wilson
College in Columbia, Ky. The Begley Chapel was Jones' first all-brick chapel.
In 1999 a retrospective of his work was produced for the Old State House Museum in Little
Rock, Arkansas and is available as a traveling exhibition from the museum. The University of
Arkansas also published a driving tour of many of his residences and buildings in Northwest
Arkansas.
On August 31, 2004 Jones died at his home in Fayetteville at the age of 83, survived by his
wife and two daughters.
As of April 3, 2009, the University of Arkansas' School of Architecture dedicated the school
in Fay's honor. Due to a multi-million dollar contribution from Don and Ellen Edmondson,
the school is now known as the Fay Jones School of Architecture.
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