Exterior View of a City Dwelling for Mrs. Dana, Springfield, Illinois (Aussenansicht vom städtischen Wohnhause für Frau Dana, Springfield, Illinois)

Wright’s commission for socialite Susan Lawrence Dana entailed a large home to be used for entertaining, complete with furniture, sculpture, murals, and landscape features. The project allowed Wright to construct one of his most lavish projects to date. With a budget of around $60,000, Wright created a richly detailed 12,600-square-foot, 35-room house on a corner lot with an adjoining 3,100-square-foot carriage house. This perspective shows the house from the east, providing a glimpse of the length and arched entryway of the home on the left side of the print. As a decorative motif for the home, Wright used a stylized sumac plant throughout, including it in the art glass windows and the green-tinted plaster frieze, which patterns the exterior of the second floor. Dana lived in the home until around 1928, when declining fortunes forced her to close the house; in the years following its purchase in 1981 by the State of Illinois from second owner Charles Thomas, the house was restored and opened to the public.