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| The State of Illinois bought the Susan Dana House in 1981 and it became a historic site. Refitted in the late 1990s to its appearance in 1910. It is believed to contain one of the most intact Frank Lloyd Wright architectural interiors in the United States. |
In 1902,
Susan Lawrence Dana (1862–1946) was an independent woman and heiress to a
substantial fortune, including silver mines in the Rocky Mountains. Widowed in
1900, Dana enjoyed complete control over her household and fortune. Eager to
express her personality and reportedly to become the leading hostess in
Springfield, Illinois, Dana decided to completely remodel her family's
Italianate mansion located in the state capital's fashionable "Aristocracy
Hill" neighborhood.
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| Visited site during PillartoPost.org tour of Route 66, 2016 Photo: Phyllis Shess, Pillar to Post |
Her 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.
Susan
Lawrence Dana's 1902 commission to Wright to plan the "remodeling" of
the Lawrences' Victorian 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.
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 windows
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, sconces, 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 motif.
A
substantial west wing leads visitors through an interior Torii gate into two of
the largest rooms in the house. The upper-level gallery was used for musical
entertaining, and the ground-level library 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
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 and the occult. 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 in the
1940s, her home and its contents were sold.
Charles C.
Thomas, a successful medical publisher, was the second owner and custodian of
the Dana-Thomas House in 1944-1975. A view of the building was featured on the
title pages of some of his publications. Charles died in 1969 and his Wife
Nanette died in 1975. 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 million, significantly less
than could have been earned had the household been broken up.
Source: Restoration plans and
documents are held by the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries at the Art Institute
of Chicago
via Wikipedia.
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