Thorncrown Chapel

Thorncrown Chapel
Nearest city Eureka Springs, Arkansas
Coordinates 36°24′59″N 93°46′22″W / 36.41639°N 93.77278°W / 36.41639; -93.77278Coordinates: 36°24′59″N 93°46′22″W / 36.41639°N 93.77278°W / 36.41639; -93.77278
Area 7.6 acres (3.1 ha)
Built 1980 (1980)
Architect E. Fay Jones
Architectural style Modern
MPS Arkansas Designs of E. Fay Jones MPS AD
NRHP reference # 97000452[1]
Added to NRHP April 28, 2000

Thorncrown Chapel is a chapel located in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, designed by E. Fay Jones and constructed in 1980. The design recalls the Prairie School of architecture popularized by Frank Lloyd Wright, with whom Jones had apprenticed. The chapel was commissioned by Jim Reed, a retired schoolteacher. Jones' goal with the building was to make it a pilgrimage chapel set apart in the landscape for meditation.

Thorncrown was included in Budget Travel's "12 Most Beautiful Churches in America"[2] and Bored Panda's "50 Most Extraordinary Churches Of The World."[3] — and was selected for the 2006 Twenty-five Year Award by the American Institute of Architects as well as receiving its listing in 2000 on the National Register of Historic Places,[1] a status not granted to buildings fewer than fifty years old unless exceptionally significant.[4]

Structure and status

Interior

Constructed mostly of wood and other materials indigenous to northwestern Arkansas, the design minimized material transportation costs.They used materials no bigger than what two people could carry (i.e. 2x4s, 2x6s, and 2x12s of Southern pine wood). Though it looks like an open-air structure, the chapel is a glass-enclosed, air-conditioned space. They enlarged the skylight to have a natural ornamentation lighting effect throughout the chapel.

In 2013, the Southwest Power Company (SWEPCO) submitted and subsequently withdrew an application for a certificate of environmental compatibility,[5] granting permission to construct a high voltage transmission line to run adjacent to the chapel.[6][7][8]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (2009-03-13). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. ↑ "12 Most Beautiful Churches in America". 21 January 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  3. ↑ "50 Most Extraordinary Churches of the World". Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  4. ↑ "How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation," (PDF), National Register Bulletins, National Park Service, 6. Accessed 2009-12-06.
  5. ↑ "Online Public Suggestions". Arkansas Public Service Commission. Retrieved 7 May 2013.
  6. ↑ Meier, Allison (2013-05-02). "Thorncrown Chapel's Ozarks Oasis Under Threat". Retrieved 7 May 2013.
  7. ↑ "Thorncrown Chapel Under Threat". Colossal. 2013-05-07. Retrieved 7 May 2013. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  8. ↑ http://www.apscservices.info/pdf/13/13-041-U_451_1.pdf

Further reading

  • Charles K. Gandee. (March 1981) "A Wayfarer's Chapel By Fay Jones", Architectural Record. Vol 169 Number 3. pp. 86–91
  • Paul Heyer. (1993) American Architecture: Ideas and Ideologies in the Late Twentieth Century. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, pp. 102–103. ISBN 0-442-01328-0
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