March 19, 2024

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Swing Your Home

Holiday evening tours are back at Frank Lloyd Wright home

The city’s Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home has announced its holiday schedule.

Evening tours of the Dana-Thomas State Historic Site in downtown Springfield are planned for Wednesdays and Saturdays from Nov. 27 to Dec. 8.

Capacity will be limited on tours and reservations may be made online or by calling the site.

Thirty-five volunteers from the Springfield Civic Garden Club have decorated the home with 90 floral designs, several wreaths and five Christmas trees. The floral designs incorporated more than 40 dried plants native to Illinois.

Evening tours will be at 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Wednesdays and 4:30, 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. Saturdays. They are in addition to regularly scheduled daily tours at 9:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m.

COVID-19 safety precautions will be in effect. Tours are free but donations are welcomed.

The Dana-Thomas House is one of famed architect Wright’s better-preserved “Prairie-Style” homes. More than 400 pieces of specially made art glass and many original furnishings remain or have been returned to the home.

It was constructed from 1902 to 1904 for heiress and philanthropist Susan Lawrence Dana. Medical publisher Charles C. Thomas and his wife Nanette owned and cared for the home from 1944 until the state bought it in 1981 for $1 million.