E. Fay Jones’ Bella Vista Country Club Recognized on National Register of Historic Places
The POA is proud to announce the Country Club building has been designated on The National Register of Historic Places. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, protect America’s historic and archeological resources and help qualified historic properties receive preservation benefits and incentives. The BV Country Club is the work of famed architect E. Fay Jones, an Ozarks favorite son known for his fascinating, stunning, and recognizable organic approach to design of cathedrals, homes, and other buildings throughout Arkansas and beyond. Although often mentioned as a disciple of Frank Lloyd Wright, Jones was, from when he was young, an artist with his own voice.
The Bella Vista Country Club is an excellent example of the passion and meaning Jones brought to his craft–a building hewn from the stone and timber of the Ozark Mountain plateau, seemingly sliding effortlessly into it’s environment, while elevating the human experience of just being in the space. The Country Club is nestled into a low rolling hill so typical of the Bella Vista terrain. The approach to the building is ceremonial and a bit mysterious, down and then down again before opening up to a huge sky and vistas of the Country Club golf course as it continues to spill through the Ozark hills. As is evident in many of his designs, the Country Club explores Jones’s lifelong fascination with dark and light, caves and tree tops.
If you are not yet a fan of architecture or specifically the work of E. Fay Jones, the Bella Vista Country Club is a great introduction to one more dimension of Arkansas’ “natural beauty.” And here, you can play 18 holes of golf and stoke up with an excellent lunch and a cocktail or two in the BV Bar and Grill.
Bella Vista Country Club
98 Clubhouse Dr., Bella Vista, AR
Golf website | Restaurant website