World Renowned Architect, E. Fay Jones, Dies at 83


FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -E. Fay Jones, world renowned architect, died Monday, August 30, at his home in Fayetteville, Ark. Jones was 83 years old.

Born in Pine Bluff on January 31, 1921, Euine Fay Jones later moved with his family to Little Rock and El Dorado.

Jones received a bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of Arkansas in 1950. He earned his master's degree in architecture from Rice University in 1951 and received a Taliesin Fellowship, which enabled him to study with architect Frank Lloyd Wright, in 1953. Jones later received an honorary degree from the U of A in 1990.

Jones had a long and distinguished professional career that combined teaching and practice.He taught at the University of Oklahoma and had a long tenure at the University of Arkansas as a design professor, chairperson of the department from 1966-1974 and dean from 1974-1976. He was a professor emeritus.

Jones was a winner of American architecture's highest honor in 1990, the AIA Gold Medal, and was the best-known of Frank Lloyd Wright's students. He created what has been termed "Ozark Architecture," considered by some a misnomer since the style exists across the country in cities, towns and rural areas.

In 1991, members of AIA ranked Jones among the 10 most influential architects of the time, a list that also included I. M. Pei, Robert Venturi, Charles Moore and Michael Graves.

In 2000, Jones' Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs, Ark., was voted the fourth best building of the 20th century, after Fallingwater and New York's Chrysler and Seagram's buildings. Robert Ivy, architecture scholar and critic, describes Thorncrown as "arguably among 20th century's great works of art."

Jones created 135 residences and 15 chapels and churches in 20 different states, as well as an assortment of other structures including fountains, gardens, and commercial buildings. He published 32 books.


On Fay Jones: "His buildings speak of a poetry arising out of buildings in tune with their natural surroundings. They seem to invoke the amplitude of nature without damaging nature." -Prince Charles

"Fay Jones has created a truly American architecture that is respected the world over" - President George W. Bush

No arrangements for memorial services have been made at this time.



Left to right: Frank Lloyd Wright, E. Fay Jones, Wes Peterson (Wright's assistant) at the old municipal airport in Fayetteville.