HUNTSVILLE ATTRACTION FIELD GUIDE
A cantilevered masterpiece: Touring Fay Jones’s Faubus House on the bluff
A two-hour Thanksgiving tour that includes a one-hour house tour of the 1967 Faubus House, its dramatic catwalk and surrounding gardens—essential context for anyone curious about site-specific modern architecture.
A cantilevered masterpiece: Touring Fay Jones’s Faubus House on the bluff.
Perched along a bluff outside Huntsville, the Faubus House reads like a conversation between timber and rock: a 7,356-square-foot residence completed in 1967 and designed by Fay Jones that reaches outward with a cantilevered catwalk and sits quietly on the National Register of Historic Places. The Conservancy’s Thanksgiving offering gives visitors a focused, one-hour inside view of the house and an opportunity to explore the lower, exterior portions below the projecting walkway and the adjacent gardens.
Highlights
Outing Highlights
Fay Jones’s bluff-hugging design
Designed for Governor Orval and Alta Faubus and completed in 1967, the house exemplifies Fay Jones’s practice of tailoring buildings to their sites: a 7,356-square-foot residence that hovers along a bluff and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
A cantilever that projects over the bluff
The tour emphasizes the house’s signature element: a catwalk that projects outward over the bluff. Visitors can see how the structure negotiates the edge of the land and, via an outdoor stairwell, access the lower portion beneath the cantilever to view the design from underneath.
Gardens and the lower property
Beyond the interior hour-long tour, guests may choose to enjoy the surrounding gardens and the lower reaches of the property—areas that reveal how Jones integrated landscape and structure.
What the day feels like
What the tour feels like
The Faubus House Thanksgiving Tour is compact and deliberate: a two-hour program that centers on a one-hour guided house tour, during which guests step lightly into a private mid-century residence, remove shoes or don provided booties, and move room to room beneath timber and light. After the interior portion, the experience opens outward—an outdoor stair leads beneath the cantilevered catwalk and the gardens invite a quiet, slower inspection of how this house inhabits its bluffside site.
Suitability
Who it's for
Who this visit suits—and who should plan differently.
Practical planner
Details to review before reserving
Wear weather-appropriate attire and comfortable walking shoes. Shoes are not allowed inside the house—tour participants may remove shoes, tour in socks, or use complimentary surgical booties provided. Leave backpacks, large purses, bags, strollers and infant carriers in your vehicle; they are not permitted inside.
No concessions are available for the Standard Tour; outside food or drinks are not allowed inside the house. Complimentary water will be available.
The overall program runs two hours and includes a one-hour interior house tour; meet at 640 Governor Rd, Huntsville, AR 72740.
Review cancellation policies before reserving.
Frequently asked questions
Planning Your Outing
How long is the tour?
The program is two hours in total; the interior house tour portion lasts one hour.
Where do we meet?
Meet at 640 Governor Rd, Huntsville, AR 72740.
Are restrooms available on site?
Restrooms are not available except for emergency situations.
Can I take photos inside the Faubus House?
No interior photography is allowed under any circumstances; exterior photography is permitted but tripods, selfie sticks, stabilizers and drones are not allowed.
Are pets allowed?
Pets are not permitted on this tour; service animals defined under ADA Title II and III are allowed.
Who do I contact with additional questions?
Send additional questions to [email protected].