Art Nights at the Dana-Thomas House

Join us for an evening of art and creativity at the Dana-Thomas House!

August 13: Instructor Carolyn Owen Sommer will lead you in a Mixed Media Mark Making class at the Dana-Thomas House - use watercolor on paper with different tools to create interesting textures.

August 20: Instructor Carolyn Owen Sommer will lead you in a Watercolor Wood Techiniques Class at the Dana-Thomas House - paint wood grain and weathered wood on paper.

Reservations are required and may be made on this page.

Additional events will be posted soon - Follow us on Facebook (State Historic Sites at Springfield, IL) for updates and announcments.

You only need to bring your creative spirit; all other supplies will be provided.

Learn more about Carolyn Owen Sommer

Important Notes:

1. The Dana-Thomas House includes 12,600 square feet of architecture, split over 16 levels separated by stairs. Please keep this in mind when reserving your tour. Questions about accessibility and requests for reasonable accomodation should be directed to [email protected].
2. Photography, video and other recording are only permitted outdoors; indoor photos, videos, and other recording are not permitted. A gallery of photos of the site, including interior images, is available at https://dnrhistoric.illinois.gov/research/photogallery.html Photo galleries of the holiday decorations will be posted to our Facebook (State Historic Sites at Springfield, IL) and Instagram (@statehistoricsitesspringfield) feeds.

About the Site

The Dana-Thomas House was designed and built between 1902-1904 by renowned American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. It was commissioned by Susan Lawrence Dana, a Springfield socialite, philanthropist, and activist who collaborated with Wright on his first "blank check" commission to design a home in which she could advance her ideas about democracy and education. At 12,600 square feet, with 35 rooms and over 100 art glass windows, when completed in 1904 it was the largest and most extravagant home Wright had designed thus far in his independent career as an architect. Today it is managed by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources; with most of its original furnishings and art glass still intact, it is one of the most complete of Wright's Prairie style homes in the United States.

Parking

The Dana-Thomas House is located at 301 East Lawrence Avenue in Springfield, Illinois. A free parking lot is located directly across the street from the house, at the northeast corner of Fourth Street and Lawrence Avenue. Additional free parking is located behind the house and west of the railroad tracks in the lot off of Cook Street.