101st ANNIVERSARY HOLIDAY EVENTS SCHEDULED AT DANA-THOMAS HOUSE

SPRINGFIELD, IL - The 101^st anniversary of the completion of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Dana-Thomas House State Historic Site in Springfield, Illinois will be observed with a series of special holiday events.

 

            The Dana-Thomas House will be fully decorated for the holiday season beginning Wednesday, November 30 through Saturday, December 31.  There are special evening hours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, December 16, 17 and 18 when the site will be open until 8 p.m. and live music provided.  Family Night is Friday, December 16, the annual Luminaria Evening is Sunday, December 18, and Children's Story Hour is Thursday, December 29.  Musicians will provide live music in the house each Saturday and Sunday afternoon beginning December 3 and 4 and ending Saturday, December 31.

 

FAMILY NIGHT, EVENING TOURS WITH MUSIC

 

            Friday, December 16 from 4 to 8 p.m. is Family Night, with all persons admitted free, although a donation of $1 per person is suggested.  Regular holiday tours will be conducted during the daytime with the usual suggested donation of $3 for adults and $1 for children.  The site hours on Saturday, December 17 and Sunday, December 18 will be 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., with live music filling the house during the afternoon and evening.  Evening tours allow the public to see this pristine example of Wright's American architecture with its 1904 era light levels and to enjoy the many illuminated holiday trees and decorations, and the re-created 1904 Country Store in the house's Billiard Room.

 

LUMINARIA EVENING

 

            The season's most popular event at the Dana-Thomas House, Luminaria Evening, will be held Sunday, December 18 from 4 to 8 p.m.  About 1,000 candles in paper sacks

will line the sidewalks and horizontal ledges of the sprawling, 12,600-square-foot Prairie style structure.  Tours on Luminaria Evening are silent except for the live music being played in the house.  Regular holiday tours will occur until 3:30 p.m., with the Luminaria display starting at 4 p.m.  Now in its 21^st year, this event attracts hundreds of visitors, as well as hundreds more who drive or walk by to see the lighted home.  The suggested donation is $3 for adults and $1 for children.

 

CHILDREN'S STORY HOUR

 

            Children's Story Hour, reminiscent of the times one hundred years ago when Susan Lawrence Dana would invite children into her home for reading and fun, will be held Thursday, December 29 with sessions at 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.  This year's storyteller will be Mike Anderson of Jacksonville, and each child will receive a treat at the end of the session.  Space is limited, so reservations are required.  Each session lasts about 45 minutes.

 

            The Dana-Thomas House will be closed on Christmas Day and will be closed from New Year's Day through January 6, reopening Saturday, January 7.  The site is closed Monday and Tuesday throughout the year, including the month of December.  Saturday, December 31 is the final day to see the house decorated for the holidays.

 

THE SUMAC SHOP AND THE 1904 COUNTRY STORE

 

            The Sumac Shop in the Dana-Thomas House Visitors Center is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, and until 8 p.m. on December 16, 17 and 18.  In existence for 22 years, the Sumac Shop is managed by the Dana-Thomas House Foundation, with profits benefiting Foundation and site programs, lectures, tours, acquisitions, and related educational activities.  The store has gained a national reputation for the quality and uniqueness of its products, which include books and monographs, cards and postcards, Wright reproduction and adaptation items, jewelry, period decorative arts, and related gift items.

 

            Site staff and volunteers have re-created Mrs. Dana's Country Store from 1904 in the Dana-Thomas House Billiard Room.  Purchases from this store may be made at the end of the holiday tours.

 

            All holiday events at the site are sponsored by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, which administers the Dana-Thomas House State Historic Site, and the Dana-Thomas House Foundation.

 

            The Dana-Thomas House State Historic Site was designed by world-famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright and built in 1902 - 1904 for Springfield socialite Susan Lawrence Dana.  The restored house is the most complete of Wright's early Prairie Style dwellings, with more than 100 pieces of original Wright-designed furniture and more

 than 450 art glass windows and fixtures.

 

            Susan Lawrence Dana unveiled her new residence in December 1904.  The site is concluding its centennial year with this December's events.