Danada House

Built in 1939, Danada House was the pinnacle of three Rice homes.  The other two were in Kentucky and Florida.  Dan and Ada Rice also often stayed at the Palmer House Hotel in downtown Chicago where they rented a penthouse suite on a continuous basis.  The estate’s name comes from the combination of their first names, Dan & Ada.  Dan and Ada were married on April 22, 1920.  In 1929 they adopted a five month old boy and named him Daniel F. Rice, Jr.

Dan Rice was a commodity trader on the Chicago Board of Trade and it was only natural that he became interested in agriculture and in 1929 the Rices purchased 152 acres of farmland between the cities of Wheaton and Naperville, Illinois and named the farm Danada.  Over time, Dan purchased several surrounding properties which increased the size of the estate to a total of 1,350 acres.

In 1939, Dan and Ada built a nineteen room, two story brick mansion. The main floor had a living room, dining room, library, kitchen, breakfast room, office, two closed in porches and storage rooms. Upstairs there were four large bedrooms plus a smaller bedroom for a nanny. The basement included a bar area, billiard room, wine cellar, dance floor, laundry room, two changing areas for the large swimming pool located outside and a gun room for the fox hunts sometimes held near the property.  Additionally outside there was a reflection pool, gardens and a skeet shooting area.  Mrs. Rice was known to be an expert shot among skeet shooters.

The Rices were socially active and hosted many parties at the Wheaton estate . World famous jockey, Willie Shoemaker, was often a weekend guest at the Danada Estate and played golf with Dan and Naperville’s Judge Win Knoch. They were also good friends with many people in California, among them were three nationally known celebrities: Hollywood actor Don Ameche; comedian, actor, singer Jimmy Durante; and a pianist named Liberace.

Dan Rice died in 1975 and Ada died in 1977 without leaving a will which disposed of their property. The land became available for sale and became the center of attraction for developers as a prospective site for potential commercial and residential development. Local residents swiftly formed a drive called “SAVE THE RICE FARM” which persuaded the Forest Preserve District to acquire 764 acres of the homestead property for twenty-one million dollars. The Save the Rice Farm group of nearly 200 volunteers was incorporated as the “Friends of Danada” in 1986. The Friends of Danada helped generate many of the ideas for development and provided much of the volunteer labor needed to restore the property which included restoring the deteriorating the Danada mansion.

The Rices spent most of their time at the Wheaton Danada Estate since their major interest was thoroughbred horse racing and the thoroughbred race horses were trained and stabled at the Wheaton farm.

Danada House is operated by Friends of Danada and is now rented out to the public for weddings, barmitzvahs, meetings and other public functions. The house now includes a bright airy atrium annex with large windows that creates a garden-like atmosphere, and can accommodate up to 250 people.  

For further information on Danada House occupancy and rental call 630-668-5392 or visit https://danadahouse.com.