Dana-Thomas House, Springfield

Dana-Thomas House in Springfield is probably the largest and the best preserved Frank Lloyd House I have seen so far. The house was completed in 1904 as a reconstruction of the Lawrence family house in "Aristocrat hill" in Springfield, Illinois. Susan Lawrence Dana was a leading independent woman in Springfield and heiress of a substantial fortune.

Ordering the house design from Frank Lloyd Wright, she has requested to have a large dinning room, which after the house was completed could accommodate around 40 people. As the only house except Frank Lloyd Wright own, Dana-Thomas houses dinning room includes a "cylindric" shape roof. Except the house itself, Wright designed stained glass windows, ornaments based on the sumac leaf shape and oak furniture.

Dana-Thomas house today

Dana has been married three times and although she inherited substantial fortune, over the years she has felt into poverty. Her house was bought together with other properties in Springfield to pay back her debts. However, the buyer was more interested in the buildings that could have been turned into shops and had very little interest in the Frank Lloyd House and decided to destroy the house. However, a publisher Charles C. Thomas bought the house in 1944 and kept it until 1981 when the Frank Lloyd house was sold to the State of Illinois. Currently the house is open to public and guided tours lasting about an hour show the well preserved house with its original furniture.