Thorncrown Chapel, a non-denominational woodland chapel near Eureka Springs, Arkansas, was completed in 1980 from a design by E. Fay Jones for Jim Reed as a pilgrimage space for meditation in nature. Blending Prairie School influences linked to Frank Lloyd Wright with Gothic inspiration from Paris’s Sainte-Chapelle, it is known for visually merging with the surrounding forest. Built of native Arkansas materials under a design rule that parts be small enough for two men to carry through the woods, it encloses an airy glass-filled interior. Its architectural importance brought National Register listing in 2000 and the American Institute of Architects’ Twenty-five Year Award in 2006.

Eureka Springs, Arkansas · USA