Video - Dana House - Springfield, IL

[DavidC]

A Postcard from the Field: The Dana-Thomas House by Frank Lloyd Wright - [2:47]


David

[Roderick Grant]

There are two free-standing dressing closets with attached mirrors in the main bedroom, seen in the video at 1:30 behind the tour guide; in Thomas Heinz's book, page 28 "Master bedroom looking east"; and in Weintraub/Hess, "Prairie Houses," page 95 in the background. They have been pushed against the north and south walls, where they have remained for the 20+ years since the restoration. I told former director, Donald Hallmark, where they belonged, and he rejected it out of hand. I was right then and I am still right. They should be moved.

[SDR]

Sadly, the closets do not appear on plan or section drawings published in Monograph 1, pp 124 and 129. Is there other documentation in which the closets are shown in their correct positions ? Were they to be placed somewhere between the beds flanking the fireplace, and the window end of the room ? Did they stand at right angles to the north and south walls ? Would they have suggested a division of space, separating the sleeping portion of the room from the well-lighted sitting area near the window ?

SDR

[Roderick Grant]

That is exactly correct. The closets (obviously designed and built after the rest of the interior had been done) were meant to extend from the south entrance to the north alcove leading to the dressing room, creating a passageway dividing the large space into two distinct areas. The mirrors are at one end of each closet. If positioned correctly, the hinged mirrors in the open position would form a double door between the passage and the sitting area. The doors to the closets would open into the passage.

There are 4 things that convince me that this arrangement is correct: 1. The "back" of the closets are finished as wood-paneled walls, not something one would shove against another wall out of sight; 2. The full-length hinged mirrors, are complemented by fixed mirrors on the ends of the closets, forming a half square when opened; 3. There are finials on the built-in beds, which align with similar finials on the closets only when the closets are properly oriented; 4. The east end of the room is dominated by a huge window that faces the early morning sunrise, which would disturb sleep at the crack of dawn, and may have been the problem that resulted in their construction.