© Don House

Fay Jones was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, on January 31, 1921. He attended the University of Arkansas where he was in the first graduating class of the Architecture Department in 1950. In 1951 he obtained a Master of Architecture degree from Rice University. He then taught at the University of Oklahoma for two years where he worked with Bruce Goff. During this same period, he met Frank Lloyd Wright and was accepted as a Taliesin Fellow. He was an apprentice at Taliesin in Wisconsin in 1953 and for the next 10 years participated in programs and events at Taliesin West in Arizona.  In 1953 he returned to teach at the University of Arkansas, serving as professor and first Dean of the School of Architecture. From 1954 to 1998 he created a private practice from a small studio in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Professionally he was often referred to as E. Fay Jones. He was married to Mary Elizabeth, "Gus," Jones and they had two daughters.  Fay Jones died in Fayetteville, Arkansas on August 31, 2004. 

The principles of organic architecture shaped Jones's designs, and he developed his own distinctive style with an innovative vertical use of wood, stone, and glass that exhibits a constant awareness of the relationship between interior and exterior spaces of light. He designed 226 projects, including residences, chapels, pavilions, and commercial and recreational buildings.  His residences have received numerous awards. Eight buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places. His most well-known projects are the Crosby Arboretum and Pinecote Pavilion in Picayune, Mississippi, the Cooper Chapel in Bella Vista, Arkansas, the Reed Residence in Hogeye, Arkansas, and the Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. In 2006 Thorncrown won the AIA Twenty-five Year Award. In 1990 Fay Jones was awarded the AIA Gold Medal.