Dana-Thomas House State Historic Site - Springfield, Illinois

cliffb1930

Beautiful property, and unique in that it contains over 90% of the original Frank Lloyd Wright furniture. Our guide Marcel was exceptional,both informative and humorous about both the architect and owners. The price was nominal for such a great excursion. Highly recommended, especially for architecture fans.

Tee

I almost never give 5 stars but here I would 10 if I could. First of all the house is amazing and beautiful and to have the bulk of the original furnishings makes it even more special. I was referred by a friend in Saint Louis as a Must Visit and it certainly is not just for those FLW fans but for all. I cannot say enough good and wonderful staff at the house. They were enormously kind and accommodating to my limited mobility and really went above and beyond to make sure I was able to see as much of the house as possible and it was truly appreciated. Much appreciated especially after my experience at the Lincoln Homestead.

Jess R.

Awesome to see the Japanese flavor design of this master piece. Very cool and ahead of its time. Very interesting to see how they lived back then. The furniture, kitchen, nedrooms, living spaces, and bathrooms I found interesting. Even the basement and library were interesting to me. The finishing touches like lamps and even the gutters how they flowed into a cistern for use in washing their hair was just a cool idea. Great piece of history to walk through.

N A. C. F.

No pics allowed inside. We had a private tour with Mickey since nobody else signed up for this time slot. Mickey was great and provided us excellent information on the history, house, influences, Frank Lloyd Wright, design and the families. It is 13,000 square feet, 16 elevations, incredible art glass windows and so much more. The tour is about an hour long. If you have issues with stairs, this may not be the tour for you and it may be a little warm in the hot summer. All in all, a great treasure for Illinois. Did I mention it was free? Just have to go online and get tickets in advance. To see the interior, visit their website.

Carlos S.

An Amazing experience. The design on wood and glass is so beautiful the way light travels on the inside. Too much to explain in words you need to experience it yourself. I highly recommend it

Kari F.

Everything about this house is awesome! The tour guide was great. Expect the tour to be a full hour. It can get warm in the house and you'll be standing nearly the entire time, so plan for that. No pictures allowed inside. Sign up ahead of time to get your free ticket.

LAURA P.

We only had time to view the outside...but this was a bucket list place...I'll return to fully explore

Kelly S.

Who knew the state of Illinois offers plenty of free tours in Springfield, IL?! We made a day trip to Springfield and filled the day with free activities. One of those activities was a tour of the Dana-Thomas House. You will need to get your tickets through Event-Brite but they are free. The tour size is kept small. This Frank Lloyd Wright home is impeccable and filled with original furniture. The tour focuses more on the original owner, Susan Dana and her life. The tour does discuss Frank Lloyd Wright and his design attributes but when a question came up about where the red brick was located our guide refuses to answer the question simply stating that was not the focus of the tour meaning the focus was on Susan Thomas. That is fine however, I’m not sure why when the question was asked at the end of the tour that the guide couldn’t answer the question. The house is filled with several elevation changes and several staircases are ascended and descended. A few have handrails but the most do not simply because Frank didn’t like obstruction to his design, he liked clean lines. So if stairs aren’t your thing, please keep this in mind. The tour lasts a little over an hour and you do walk approximately a mile altogether during this tour. We were there on a cooler summer day and the home was still relatively warm despite there being air conditioning. Not a huge deal at all, just thought I would people know. If it is a hot day, I would imagine the temperature would be even more toasty. All in all this was a great tour and even better because it is free.

The gentleman who asked the question about the red brick did have an idea of where the red brick was located. We found the red brick and I have included a photo of the red brick.