The Applegate House
Internationally acclaimed Arkansas architect E. Fay
Jones is perhaps best known for his churches and
chapels, most notably Thorncrown Chapel near Eureka
Springs. But Jones also designed 135 houses. Deeply
influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright, Jones designed
unique homes that not only fit into, but actually
enhanced, the beauty of their sites.
Fay Jones saw the typical suburban house of the
1950s and 1960s as nothing more than a “box,” and of
course the box is a commonly used symbol of
confinement. To him living in such a house was truly
detrimental to the human spirit. Jones also believed
that a house had to meet the needs of the family
living in it. Before starting to design a house, he
had his clients keep a diary recording their
interests, hobbies, and aggravations encountered
during daily life. He then used those observations
to help shape a house that suited the family’s
lifestyle.
Once Jones had designed a house, it fell to a
builder to turn the architect’s ideas into reality.
And for three of the houses Jones designed, that
builder was Truman Boling of Bentonville. Boling
built the Joe Applegate house, the William Enfield
house, and the first of two houses Jones designed
for another client. That house was lost in a fire,
and Boling was too busy with other jobs to build the
replacement house that still stands today.
This photograph, courtesy of the late Truman
Boling’s widow Lorene Boling, shows the Applegate
house under construction in 1967. Located west of
Bentonville off Highway 72, the 8,700-square-foot
structure is on the Arkansas Register of Historic
Places (not yet being old enough for the National
Register). Incredibly complex to build, the house
features curved walls, fireplaces, stairs, and
counters, with built-in furniture pieces that fit
into stone recesses. Circular plastic skylights
bring light into open rooms that lead from one to
another without doors to divide the spaces.
The Applegate house was featured in the July 13,
1969, Sunday magazine of the Memphis Commercial
Appeal. In that article Jones commented on how
the design of the house enhanced the freedom of the
family living in it. The home featured several
optional spaces for dining, for example, one of them
beside the curved indoor swimming pool that was one
of the most unique features of the house.
But while that article went on at length about the
home’s architect, it never mentioned the equally
talented builder who had turned Jones’ plans into a
house that was the very antithesis of a box. The
Museum is grateful to Lorene Boling for sharing
photos, documents, and memories of Truman’s
accomplishments as the builder of three Fay Jones
houses.
