EUREKA SPRINGS, Ark. — Thorncrown could be standing half-built on the side of an Ozark mountain — if not for an answered prayer. Thorncrown Chapel, which soars 48 feet into the trees and is made of 6,000 panes of glass, has won honors from architectural organizations across the nation and has been visited by 5 million people in the past quarter-century.
Jim Reed, a teacher from California who grew up in Arkansas, had a vision for the 25 acres in this vacation town next to his retirement cabin, and he wasn’t going to give up.
“It became evident to us that the tourists liked our driveway,” says his widow, Dell Reed. “They would come into our driveway and have picnics. One afternoon, Jim said wouldn’t it be great if somehow way back in the woods we could build those folks a glass chapel? They all seem to want to get off the highway and into the woods.”
Mrs. Reed says they sold a piece of property in California for $80,000, knowing that building the chapel would cost more but hoping God would provide.
“Folks would tell him to his face he was a fool,” she says. “Everyone told him he was absolutely crazy.”
The Reeds had no idea how to start their venture until breakfast one morning at a haunt in Eureka Springs, an eccentric and exquisite little Victorian town in the Ozarks where there are dozens of streets but no intersections, a Catholic church is entered through the steeple and a hotel has 13 floors — and every one is a ground floor. Nearly everything is built on or against a mountain.
“There were three people in there: my husband, the owner and a stranger,” Mrs. Reed says. “My husband told the owner of his dream, and he said, ’Someday I’m going to build that chapel, but who will be the architect?’ This stranger told him to get in touch with Fay Jones.”
Mr. Jones is a famed architect from nearby Fayetteville, winner of the American Institute of Architects’ prestigious gold medal and noted for his designs’ subtle intricacies between buildings and nature.
“Now, Fay Jones didn’t want to do a chapel for someone from California,” Mrs. Reed says. “He thought my husband was going to start a cult back here because he was from California.”
Jim Reed’s Arkansas roots won over Mr. Jones, and he designed Thorncrown, but money troubles plagued the Reeds.
“He was a schoolteacher,” Mrs. Reed says. “What did he know about chapels? The bill was for over $200,000.” That was more than double their original investment. “So my husband went to some banks in California, and they said, ’People don’t build glass chapels for tourists in their backyards in Arkansas.’”
So the Reeds wrote letters and asked for loans while Thorncrown sat half-finished.
“He flew back here early one morning,” Mrs. Reed says. “He came to close it down. He went up to the altar area in this half-finished chapel and thought he would just take one final look and chalk this up as the worst and most expensive mistake in his life.
“But instead, he dropped to his knees and just began to pour out his heart to his Heavenly Father, just telling God that he really did want to finish the building but no one would lend him the money.”
Mr. Reed, always self-sufficient, returned to his wife and family in California. Within a few days, he received a letter from an Illinois woman who wrote that she would lend the money.
“We borrowed it from her, and in June 1980, the little, laughed-at chapel opened,” Mrs. Reed says. “He lived five years to see his dream come true.”
Mrs. Reed still lives in their cabin and maintains the chapel. She sweeps the floors, waters the plants, does whatever needs to be done. Their son is the minister.
For the architect, a man of 83 who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, the chapel remains his most endearing and popular work. The AIA named it fourth on the list of architectural achievements for the century — and the top event in the 1980s.
When he was in better health, Mr. Jones would visit, sitting anonymously in the back row, watching reactions to his work.
“It’s the apple of his eye,” says Jo Rainey, who answers the phones for the chapel. “He would just watch their faces.”
Though the chapel rises 48 feet into the trees, it leaves them undisturbed. The 6,000 panes of glass form 425 windows, and visitors walk through the door wondering if they’re still outside. They sit in the quiet space, reflecting on the intricate detailing in the ceiling and the view into the hills.
Mr. Jones tells stories of his visits for weddings, services or just people-watching. Once, he says, a young boy ran up the path flailing about with two stones.
His mother made him put the stones down in the dirt outside before the family entered the chapel.
The boy went in and, quiet as could be, sat a front row, frozen with awe. Mr. Jones says he sat in the back, listening as the parents talked about how they had never seen the boy so calm for so long.
After a while, the family left, and as they walked, the boy bent down and picked up the same two rocks and walked away quietly.
“They weren’t the same two stones,” Mr. Jones says, tears in his eyes. “They came as instruments of destruction and left as natural beauty.”
The chapel remains a major draw for the town. Weddings are booked more than a year in advance and are celebrated sometimes three a day in peak months — as early as 8 a.m.
Mrs. Reed says couples have come from Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Russia to be married there. Any Christian minister is welcome. She has had visitors from 60 foreign countries and all 50 states, and for her, it’s a living memory of her husband.
“He was guided by God to do this,” she says.
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The address of Thorncrown Chapel is 12968 U.S. Route 62 West, Eureka Springs, Ark.
Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. April through November, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in March and December, and closed January and February except for weddings and other special events.
One-hour Sunday services, including music and a sermon, are held at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. through the third week in December and are open to the public. Weddings are scheduled before or after regular visiting hours.
Admission is free, but donations are accepted. For more information, call 479/253-7401 or visit www.thorncrown.com.
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