The Little Chapel in the Woods

As part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Works Program Adminis- tration building projects, The Little Chapel in the Woods was constructed in Denton, Texas, towards the end of the Great Depression with the help of 300 students from the Texas State College for Women and young men of the National Youth Administration. Its simple configuration holds two surprises on the interior: innovative parabolic arches, inspired by the work of Felix Candela, and student designed and manufactured stained-glass windows that assert the right of women to their fair share in modern life.
A series of evaluative essays place the Chapel in the interna- tional and regional context. Reproductions from the Alexander Architectural Archive at The University of Texas at Austin, School of Architecture, provide a detailed insight into the careful design of this much admired manifesto of a regional architecture by O’Neil Ford and Arch Swank.