Photo by Art Meripol

This time of year it’s hard to find a quite space to sit back and take a break from the daily bustle. We’re counting our lucky stars for buildings such as The Mildred B. Cooper Memorial Chapel in Bella Vista, Arkansas. It’s naturalistic beauty beckons onlookers to sit a spell. Developer John Cooper commissioned renowned architect Euine Fay Jones to build the chapel in the eighties in honor of his wife, Mildred. The family wanted to create a peaceful refuge where visitors could find calm and inspiration.

Keeping in line with the teachings of his mentor, Frank Lloyd Wright, Jones designed everything in the chapel, from the light fixtures to the furniture and moldings, to blend harmoniously with its surroundings.

SL photographer, Art Meripol, remembers meeting Jones in college, when the architect was a professor at the University of Arkansas.

“I used to walk past E. Fay Jones office almost every day and see handmade models of buildings like the chapel in his window,” Art says. “They looked like the most amazing dollhouses.”

Building such as this one and the Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas celebrate the beauty of the Ozarks and earned Jones his status among the top ranks of the design industry.

Photo by Art Meripol

Photo by Art Meripol

Photo by Art Meripol

Photo by Art Meripol

Photo by Art Meripol