Bank OZK – Restoration of Fay Jones’s Newton County Bank

Jasper, Arkansas

The Bank OZK Jasper Branch was originally designed as the Newton County Bank by E. Fay Jones in 1964.  An addition to the building was added by another architect sometime in the 80’s, and a new teller line was installed. The original skylights were covered up by the lay-in ceiling and spray foam on the roof. In 2010 the Jasper Commercial Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the bank was one of the key buildings in the listing.

Polk Stanley Wilcox was asked to remodel the bank which Bank OZK purchased  in 2016. During the first visit to the building it was obvious to restore as much of Jones’s original design elements while making sure the branch worked with 21st century banking. PSW worked to locate Jones’s original drawings for the project and received permission from the University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture + Design’s Collection to reprint some of his original drawings and use them as the bank’s artwork. PSW worked to restore all of the skylights to their original design to allow natural light back into the building and highlight the Jones’s interior woodwork. PSW referenced Jones’s original teller line detail to redesign the bank teller line all while meeting the current bank requirements. The bank’s original vertical batten cast-in-place cornice still exists along the top of the building.

This project has helped to bring E. Fay Jones’s original design ideas back to life but to also create a bank that will last for many years to come. It was important to PSW to showcase an E. Fay Jones project that was not made of wood, but of brick and precast concrete that represents his time learning under Frank Lloyd Wright.