The Dana House Entrance by Frank Lloyd Wright in Springfield, Illinois

The Dana Thomas House was actually known to Frank Lloyd Wright as the Dana House after Susie Dana the heiress of the Lawrence estate. The Thomas name came in when a company by that name bought the house later in the 20th century and then donated it.

The grand entrance to the house is very atypical for Frank Lloyd Wright as most of his houses have hidden and small entrances. Mrs Dana specifically wished for a grand entrance directly off of the street in which to greet her many guests at her many parties and functions.  This entrance is a series of concentric arches ending in the arch of the door and the glass arch it contains.

You can see the cream colored thin 12″x 2″ brick used in the walls and arches. The grout was struck out only horizontally to add to their narriw effect. The upper arch had a fancy canvas canopy reaching out to the street that was added later by Mrs Dana.

Above the doorway you can see the vertical columns, windows, copper colored frieze and copper crown and gutters. The roof is highly cantilevered here and especially on the other side. This copper cornice appears to swing upwards at the ends like a Japanese pagoda, but in fact is actually horizontal being an optical illusion Mr Wright created.