FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS.- Internationally renowned architect Euine Fay Jones died at home on Monday, August 30. The most celebrated Arkansas architect in history, his work honored by numerous design awards, Jones also achieved international prominence as an architectural educator during his 35 years of teaching at the University of Arkansas School of Architecture.
David French, AIA, 2004 president of the Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, said: "This is a great loss to the architectural community. Fay was not only a legend and a renowned architect, but he was one of our own. His legacy lives on in the wonderful architecture that he designed. He will be greatly missed."
School of Architecture Dean Jeff Shannon said: "Though many people are saddened today at Fay’s passing, I’m concentrating on how extraordinarily fortunate I have been to have known Fay as a teacher, an employer, a fellow faculty member and a friend for over 37 years. Fay was a mentor and an inspiration to many, many people, and was an extraordinary ambassador for the school, the university and the state."
Born January 31, 1921 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Jones grew up in El Dorado, where his earliest architectural effort was an elaborate tree house with a working brick fireplace and roll-up doors and screens. A "Popular Science" film on Frank Lloyd Wright’s Johnson’s Wax headquarters, which Jones viewed at the local cinema in 1938, inspired his career in architecture and introduced Jones to work by the man who would become his mentor.
Jones studied civil engineering in the UA College of Engineering for two and a half years before serving as a Navy pilot in the Pacific theater during World War II. While he was a naval officer, Jones married Mary Elizabeth (Gus) Knox of Hot Springs, Ark. Upon his return to the United States, Jones enrolled in the new architecture program at the University of Arkansas, where he helped teach design studios before graduating in the school’s first class in 1950.
Jones earned his M.Arch. from Rice University in 1950 and from 1951 - 1953 taught architecture at the University of Oklahoma, where he worked with noted architect Bruce Goff. In 1953 Jones began a career-defining relationship with his mentor Frank Lloyd Wright, serving as a fellow at Taliesin West near Phoenix in the spring and spending the following summer with his family at the Wisconsin Taliesin. Jones developed a deep friendship with Wright, returning to Taliesin regularly with his family and hosting Wright at the University of Arkansas in 1958, shortly before Wright’s death in 1959. Wright’s emphasis on simplicity, native materials and seamless integration between the built and natural environments deeply influenced Jones’ work.
Robert Ivy, editor of "Architectural Record" and Jones’ biographer, noted in his book "Fay Jones" that "while other Wright devotees have tried to advance his vision, Jones, by pursuing an independent path, has emerged from Wright’s shadow."
In 1953, Jones returned to Arkansas to teach at the UA School of Architecture, where he inspired generations of students with his work and teaching and served as the school’s first dean. Jones’ teaching position gave him time to work and travel and provided him with his earliest clients. Jones’ Fayetteville home, built in 1956, and residences designed for other faculty members attracted attention from national magazine editors and prompted Jones to expand beyond a one-man firm in the late ’50s. Through the years, Jones intentionally limited the size and complexity of his office, preferring to work directly with clients. A former student, Maurice Jennings, joined the practice in 1973 and became Jones’ partner in 1986.
Throughout his career Jones focused primarily on small projects, designing 135 residences and 15 chapels and churches in 20 states, as well as fountains, gardens and commercial buildings. Soaring interior spaces, open expression of structural elements, careful detailing and the use of native materials characterize his style.
Recognition began in 1961 with an award from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in cooperation with "Life" and "House and Home" as part of a "Homes for Better Living" program. Over the course of his career Jones received more than 20 national design awards, including AIA Honor Awards for Thorncrown Chapel (1981), the Roy Reed residence (1987) and Pinecote Pavilion (1990). In 1985, Jones was given the highest award an American architecture educator can receive, the Distinguished Professor Award of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. At a White House ceremony in 1990, Jones was awarded the highest professional honor an American architect can receive, the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects. In a national survey conducted by the AIA in 1991, participants ranked Jones as one of the country’s "10 most influential living architects," placing him on a list that included I.M. Pei, Robert Venturi, Charles Moore, and Michael Graves. American architects also ranked Jones’ Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs as one of the five best buildings by an American architect in the 20th century.
In addition to these honors, Jones was published extensively in the most prestigious national and international professional journals, was awarded a Fellowship in the American Institute of Architects, served on numerous design juries, both national and international, and lectured by invitation at the top architecture schools in the country. Jones’ work was discussed in 32 books. His 1981 Rome Prize Fellowship to the American Academy in Rome was especially meaningful, as it enabled Jones to study in Europe. Jones received honorary degrees from four institutions: Kansas State University, Missouri’s Drury College, the University of Arkansas and Hendrix College.
Following his retirement as a professor emeritus from the university in 1988, Jones continued to design, working closely with Maurice Jennings. Jones viewed the 41-foot tall Fulbright Peace Fountain on the UA campus, one of his last projects, as the "exclamation point" of his career. After his retirement from the firm in 1998, Jones continued to sketch and paint. He was working on interior detailing for several clients’ homes at the time of his death.
School of Architecture founder John G. Williams said: "There was a simple and rich beauty in his life and in his work. Perhaps the people who knew him best and were able to enjoy him most were the people lucky enough to live in one of his houses. Fortunately, there is Thorncrown Chapel near Eureka Springs and Cooper Chapel in Bella Vista that we can all visit."
Don Edmondson, who lives with his wife Ellen in a Forrest City home designed by Jones, commented that "we’ve lived here for 25 years, and still notice new things - a play of light and shadow that his design creates, for example. It’s like living in a world all your own." The Edmondsons endowed the E. Fay Jones Chair in the School of Architecture in honor of both Fay Jones and his wife Gus.
Jones began transferring his personal and professional papers to the university in 1997. In addition to personal and professional correspondence, records and speeches, the Fay Jones collection includes models and conceptual sketches, working drawings, renderings and miscellaneous plans connected to each of his projects. For more information on his papers, visit http://libinfo.uark.edu/specialcollections/manuscripts/fayjones/projects.asp
