The Dana-Thomas House or Susan Lawrence Dana House or Dana House (built 1902-04) is an expression of architect Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...

's Prairie Style. Located along East Lawrence Avenue in Springfield, Illinois

Springfield, Illinois

Springfield is the third and current capital of the US state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County with a population of 117,400 , making it the sixth most populated city in the state and the second most populated Illinois city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area...

, USA, for patron Susan Lawrence Dana, the town house reflects the mutual affection of the patron and the architect for organic architecture

Organic architecture

Organic architecture is a philosophy of architecture which promotes harmony between human habitation and the natural world through design approaches so sympathetic and well integrated with its site that buildings, furnishings, and surroundings become part of a unified, interrelated...

, the relatively flat landscape

Landscape

Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...

 of the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, and the Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese aesthetic as expressed in Japanese prints

Japonism

Japonism, or Japonisme, the original French term, was first used in 1872 by Jules Claretie in his book L'Art Francais en 1872 and by Philippe Burty in Japanisme III. La Renaissance Literaire et Artistique in the same year...

.

Susan Lawrence Dana

In 1902, Susan Lawrence Dana (1862–1946) was an independent woman and heiress to a substantial fortune, including silver

Silver

Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...

 mines in the Rocky Mountains

Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...

. Widowed in 1900, Dana enjoyed complete control over her household and fortune. Eager to express her personality and to become the leading hostess in Springfield, Dana decided to completely remodel her family's Italianate mansion located in the state capital's fashionable "Aristocracy Hill" neighborhood.

Susan Lawrence Dana's search for an architect to match her aspirations ended when she was introduced to Frank Lloyd Wright, the rising leader of a new movement in architecture.

Selecting an architect

In 1893, Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) left the office of his mentor, Louis Sullivan

Louis Sullivan

Louis Henri Sullivan was an American architect, and has been called the "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism" He is considered by many as the creator of the modern skyscraper, was an influential architect and critic of the Chicago School, was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an...

, and began to practice as an independent architect. Fully agreeing with Sullivan's doctrine of "organic architecture", Wright expanded it into a full-fledged system of congruence between the interior of a building and its surroundings, which came to be called the "Prairie Style".

Susan Lawrence Dana's 1902 commission to Wright to plan the "remodeling" of the Lawrence's Victorian

Victorian architecture

The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...

 mansion was the largest commission that Wright had enjoyed up to that time. The architect, who recognized a kindred spirit in Mrs. Dana, expanded the boundaries of his commission to design and build what was, in effect, an entirely new house.

Dana House

This house was a showcase for Wright's Prairie Style. It reflected Susan Lawrence Dana's flamboyant personality and Dana's and Wright's mutual love of Japanese prints and drawings. The house was designed for display and entertainment. An arched doorway admitted guests into a series of expanding spaces, the vestibule and reception hall.

The concept of "expanding space" was repeated throughout the house, with window

Window

A window is a transparent or translucent opening in a wall or door that allows the passage of light and, if not closed or sealed, air and sound. Windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent material like float glass. Windows are held in place by frames, which...

s placed so as to continually draw the resident or guest into an awareness of the outside. Wright designed approximately 450 art-glass windows, skylights, door panels, sconce

Sconce (light fixture)

A sconce is a type of light fixture affixed to a wall in such a way that it uses only the wall for support, and the light is usually directed upwards. It does not have a base on the ground...

s, and light fixtures for the house, most of which survive. Much of the art glass, and the mural by George Niedecken surmounting the dining room interior, centered on a sumac

Sumac

Sumac is any one of approximately 250 species of flowering plants in the genus Rhus and related genera, in the family Anacardiaceae. Sumacs grow in subtropical and temperate regions throughout the world, especially in Africa and North America....

 motif.

A substantial west wing leads visitors through an interior Torii

Torii

A is a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the profane to the sacred...

 gate into two of the largest rooms in the house. The upper-level gallery was used for musical entertaining, and the ground-level library

Library

In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...

 contains special easels designed by Wright for Dana to display selections from her collection of Japanese prints, part of more than 100 pieces of free-standing Wright-designed white oak

White oak

Quercus alba, the white oak, is one of the pre-eminent hardwoods of eastern North America. It is a long-lived oak of the Fagaceae family, native to eastern North America and found from southern Quebec west to eastern Minnesota and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas. Specimens have been...

 furniture in the house.

Susan Lawrence Dana lived in the Dana-Thomas House for approximately 24 years, from 1904 until about 1928. At first a successful hostess and leader of Springfield's social scene, she later became increasingly reclusive and turned her attention to spiritualism

Spiritualism

Spiritualism is a belief system or religion, postulating the belief that spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living...

 and the occult

Occult

The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...

. Suffering from increasing financial constraints in her later years, she closed the main house around 1928 and moved to a small cottage on the grounds. As Dana struggled with age-related dementia

Dementia

Dementia is a serious loss of cognitive ability in a previously unimpaired person, beyond what might be expected from normal aging...

 in the 1940s, her home and its contents were sold.

Dana-Thomas House today

Charles C. Thomas, a successful medical publisher, was the second owner and custodian of the Dana-Thomas House in 1944-1981. He and his wife are credited with maintaining the house's original furnishings and design, and with selling the home and its furnishings as a unit to the state of Illinois in 1981 for $1.0 million, significantly less than could have been earned had the household been broken up.

The State of Illinois bought the house in 1981 and it became a historic site under the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency

Illinois Historic Preservation Agency

The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of Illinois. It is tasked with the duty of maintaining most State-owned historic sites within Illinois, and maximizing their educational and recreational value to visitors....

 and led a restoration effort in 1987-1990 that refitted the house to its appearance in 1910. It is believed to contain one of the most intact Frank Lloyd Wright architectural interiors in the United States. Restoration plans and documents are held by the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries

Ryerson & Burnham

The Ryerson & Burnham Libraries are the art and architecture research collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. The libraries cover all periods with extensive holdings in the areas of 18th, 19th and 20th century architecture and 19th century painting, prints, drawings, and decorative arts...

 at the Art Institute of Chicago

Art Institute of Chicago

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...

.

The house was featured in Bob Vila

Bob Vila

Robert Joseph "Bob" Vila is an American home improvement television show host known for This Old House , Bob Vila's Home Again , and Bob Vila .-Early life:...

's A&E Network

A&E Network

The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...

 1996 production, Guide to Historic Homes of America.

Current status

As part of a program of budget cuts, the state of Illinois temporarily closed the Dana-Thomas House to the public from December 1, 2008 until April 23, 2009.

The Dana-Thomas House again closed on January 1, 2011 for restoration work, and is currently scheduled to reopen mid-fall 2011. The Sumac Shop will remain open in January, Wed-Fri, 10 AM until 3 PM.

External links

• Dana-Thomas House site
• State of Illinois site
• Archive of building plans and elevations from the Historic American Building Survey
• Speaking of History Podcast about touring the Dana Thomas House in June 2007
• Photos on Arcaid