Completed and dedicated in 2006, the Anthony Chapel, designed by Jennings + McKee is the new star of the Garvan Gardens.   Garvan Gardens is located on the shores of Lake Hamilton and is the creation and gift of Verna Cook Garvan.

From the Garvan Gardens website:

“The site for Garvan Woodland Gardens was purchased in the 1920’s after a clear-cut in about 1915. Mrs. Garvan loved this beautiful place so much that she never allowed it to be cut again. In 1956 she began to develop it as a garden and possible future residence. She was intimately familiar with the land and laid out each path, marking every tree to be removed. Verna also personally chose each new plant and selected its location.

Over the next forty years, Mrs. Garvan planted thousands of specimens which now form an impressive collection. There are hundreds of rare shrubs and trees, some over 40 years old.”

The Anthony Chapel is an extraordinary work of art that highlights the beauty of the natural elements and the dense woods that surround it. The soaring 57-foot, open-rafter ceiling, supported by massive pine columns and crossbeams and provides beautiful views of Lake Hamilton.  It reminded me immediately of the Wayfarers Chapel (built by Frank Lloyd Wright’s son) near where my in laws live in Palos Verdes, CA.  It is unsurprising since both have an FLW connection.

Upon her death, Mrs. Garvan left the property to the Department of Landscape Architecture through the University of Arkansas Foundation. ,

It was Mrs. Garvan’s wish that the Gardens be used to educate and serve the people of Arkansas, providing them the joy and repose it had offered her. She noted the devastation of the environment that had taken place in her lifetime and wished to preserve a remnant of the twentieth century’s natural grandeur for generations to come.

image from the becker