The Dana–Thomas House (also known as the Susan Lawrence Dana House or Dana House; formerly the Bannerstone House) is a Prairie style house at 301 East Lawrence Avenue in Springfield, Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, it was built for the philanthropist Susan Lawrence Dana around an existing 1860s house. The main house to the east, at the intersection of Lawrence Avenue and Fourth Street, is connected with a library–gallery to the west. In addition to the main house, the estate includes a carriage house. The building is operated as a historic house museum by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR). The Dana–Thomas House Foundation helps preserve the house, hosts events and programs, and raises funds.
The site was acquired in 1868 by Dana's father Rheuna Lawrence, who built a house there. After Dana's first husband and father both died in the early 1900s, she sought to renovate the existing house but was restricted by the terms of her father's will. Wright designed a new house around part of the existing house; work started in mid-1902 and was completed in December 1904. Dana initially hosted large gatherings and later religious meetings there, but as her finances dwindled, she moved out in 1928. The house was empty until 1944, when the Thomas Publishing Company and the Thomas family bought and renovated it. The Thomases made minimal changes to the structure, selling it to the state in 1981. The house became a state historic site under the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency (IHPA), which led a restoration effort in 1987–1990. The house was again renovated in 2011.
The house, one of Wright's first mansions, incorporated various elements from his other work, including floor plans and materials. Among its exterior features are 250 art glass windows and a gable roof. The house has a total floor area of ; although the building is only three stories high, the rooms are split across 16 or 17 partial floor levels. A tall entry hall leads to a gallery, dining room, and living room at the first story. There are bedrooms on the second floor, along with a library and bowling alley in the basement.
The design has received praise over the years and has been depicted in media works such as the Wasmuth Portfolio. Objects from the house have been displayed at museums, and merchandise inspired by the house and its furniture has been sold. The house is designated as a National Historic Landmark, and the complex is a city and state historic site.
Site The Dana–Thomas House is located at 301 East Lawrence Avenue in Springfield, Illinois, at the northwest corner with South Fourth Street. It occupies a land lot measuring around , which was formed through the combination of six smaller lots. The land lot also includes a library–gallery and a garage (or carriage house) west of the main house. The garage, at the western end of the site, abuts an alley that runs parallel to a railroad track. Both the railroad track and Lawrence Avenue are within of the house.
Historian Donald Hoffmann wrote that the house's architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, had wanted to "shape and define as much space as he could" with the landscape design. The original landscape design is poorly documented, but Walter Burley Griffin of Wright's studio may have been involved. The building sits on a berm several feet above the street. The house is surrounded by a brick wall, creating a walled garden around it. This wall extends around the carriage house. The garden itself contains colorful flower beds, trees, and flowering plants. Within the garden (just outside a secondary entrance to the house) is a pool; the garden is otherwise completely flat. Urns surround the building.
The avenue to the south was originally named Wright Street, before being named Douglas Avenue in 1890 and Lawrence Avenue in 1898. The avenue's name honors the Lawrence family, of which the house's original owner Susan Lawrence Dana was a member. Across Lawrence Avenue to the south is a two-story cottage where Dana lived in her later life. The house's parking lot is located across the railroad track from the house itself. There are also an apartment building immediately to the north and houses to the west and south. The Illinois Governor's Mansion is one block north. Other nearby buildings include the Illinois State Capitol three blocks north and Lincoln Home National Historic Site three blocks northeast.
Previous site use The site was previously owned by lawyer and later US president Abraham Lincoln, who was active in real-estate speculation. D. E. Rucket built a house there . The site then became the Lawrence House, variously cited as being designed in an Italianate or Victorian style. The Lawrence House was built for Dana's father, businessman Rheuna D. Lawrence, who purchased the site in 1868. It was a brick structure with a hip roof topped by a cupola. The Lawrence House was nearly square in plan, measuring or wide and long. It was smaller than adjacent houses on 4th Street, including the Hay House immediately to the north (demolished 1934) and the Matteson House near the Governor's Mansion (destroyed 1873).
The Lawrence House was gradually expanded in the late 19th century. In 1893, a small frame cottage (later known as the White Cottage) was built for Susan and her first husband Edwin. By 1896, the estate included two annexes, along with a carriage house was to the northwest and the cottage at the western end. The Lawrence House occupied the remainder of the site. A stable and washhouse were added in 1900. When Wright rebuilt the Lawrence House, the cottage was moved across the railroad track, and a shed south of the cottage was removed. Concurrently, the stable and carriage house were redesigned with similar design details to the Dana House, along with a wall surrounding them.
History Development From the 1850s onward, Rheuna Lawrence earned his fortune through the construction and mining sectors. Susan, Lawrence's only child who survived to adulthood, married Edwin Dillingham Dana in 1883. The Danas' two children died in childhood, and Edwin himself died in 1900, followed by Lawrence in 1901. Lawrence left Susan a large inheritance; though the inheritance was estimated at about $3 million, the exact amount is unknown because Lawrence's will disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Lawrence's will prevented the existing house's demolition. The will also mandated that the Lawrence House site be used as Susan's main residence, although the existing building was allowed to be remodeled. Dana wanted to memorialize her father while showing off her wealth and hosting large events, and historian Donald Hoffmann wrote that Dana may have wanted to circumvent the will.
Wright commission and design In 1902, Dana reached out to Frank Lloyd Wright. The circumstances of their first meeting are unknown, but historian Donald Hallmark suggests that Susan and Edwin Dana may have met one of Wright's aunts in Minneapolis in the 1880s. The Danas may also have met Wright in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1896 at a Daughters of the American Revolution chapter meeting. When Dana contacted him in 1902, Wright had had his own architectural practice for only nine years, and he designed buildings mostly in the Chicago metropolitan area. Dana had previously donated funds for the Hillside Home School II in Wright's hometown of Spring Green, Wisconsin.
Wright was ostensibly commissioned to plan the remodeling of the Lawrences' mansion, and his drawings were labeled as "alterations and additions" to the existing villa of Dana's mother. The commission was one of the largest awarded to Wright's Oak Park architectural studio in the early 1900s. Dana had originally planned to rebuild the house while preserving the foundation and parts of the old house's floor plan (including several rooms). The Wright studio essentially ended up rebuilding the entire house, constructing new rooms around the old house. Wright later wrote that Dana had wanted a home for entertaining and art—with a main house and gallery connected by a conservatory—as well as several double-height spaces. Unlike with the Coonley House or Darwin D. Martin House, he could not create an expansive interior because of both the small site and the restrictions of Lawrence's will.
Wright's early plans for the house were largely similar to the final plan, except for the configuration of the dining room and entry hall. The den (or sitting room) and living room were placed perpendicularly to the entry hall, and the dining room was a single-story room underneath the bedrooms, not readily visible from the entrance. The early plan also included a library and bowling alley; there was also a darkroom, although Dana's interest in photography is not documented. Hoffmann described the layout as an "egregious failing". Albert Van den Berghen, a draftsman at Wright's Oak Park studio, drew up plans for a statue inspired by the Alfred Tennyson poem "Flower in the Crannied Wall", only for Wright to ask Bock to redesign the sculptures. Wright considered Van den Berghen's plans an overly literal interpretation of the poem, and Van den Berghen is not known to have created another plan for Wright.
Construction Demolition of parts of the old house began in mid-1902, though Wright had not yet finalized his plans at that point, and news reports referred to the project as a renovation rather than new construction. Joseph M. Figueira, who oversaw the brickwork, may have been the house's general contractor. S. J. Hanes, who represented Wright on matters relating to the project, was married to the daughter of the judge who had administered Lawrence's will.
Wright's studio also refined the house's details, sketching them out in pencil. Dana quickly became enthusiastic about the design. By early 1903, Wright had revised his plans, which called for a larger house with pavilions at the corners, in addition to a bowling alley and a polygonal dining niche. Wright relocated the bedroom that had been above the dining room. Although the revised plan also included a tree in the building's porch (a detail that had been present in the original design), this tree was not ultimately included.
Although Dana monitored the house's expenses, she did not push back on any budget increases. As such, the building is sometimes cited as having had an unlimited budget. The project is estimated as having cost $60,000–125,000, and the furnishings alone cost $15,000; by contrast, the typical American house cost $4,000. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote that "Wright was for the first time allowed to develop his ideas fully without staying within a budget", while Wright biographer Brendan Gill wrote that the unrestricted budget was "a danger to Wright as well as an opportunity". Wright later expressed some compunction about the cost overruns. Hallmark said the house's final cost may have included some expenses for the nearby Lawrence Memorial Library, which were not explicitly recorded. The rebuilt Dana House was his largest commission to date. Despite the extensive reconstruction, Wright still referred to the building as an "alteration—new facade for old house" a half-century after the building's completion.
Dana ownership Early years
Visitors began to tour the Dana House in October 1904, and the house was completed that December with a charity bazaar. Dana originally lived there with her cousin Florence Lawrence and mother Mary Agnes Lawrence, though Mary died soon after moving in. Dana, who had become fascinated with spiritualism and the occult during the building's construction, began trying to communicate with her late husband and parents soon after she moved in. She also owned three carriages, which were stored at the carriage house. Dana employed several servants, including a chef, maid, and carriage driver.