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Not only is the Pope-Leighey House known for its revolutionary design, but by the owner’s efforts to protect it. After Loren and Charlotte Pope sold the property to Robert and Marjorie Leighey, the construction of a Falls Church, VA section of Interstate 66 threatened the demolition of the house. Marjorie Leighey took immediate action to raise awareness about the threat to the house, including personally corresponding with the Secretary of the Interior. The National Trust for Historic Preservation noticed the struggle and relocated the home, piece by piece, to Alexandria, VA, in 1965. The house was moved again in 1995, but this time only 30 feet due to foundation and structural issues.
Time your tour accordingly
The original plans had included a workshop, but it had to be removed when Wright downsized the design for affordability.[4] The roof is held up by three brick pillars. The main mansion is a formal building of brick masonry, sandstone trim and regal window openings – eighty-six windows to be exact – and many of those window openings are larger than 4 feet wide by eight feet tall, creating quite an imposing façade. While the main block windows date to 1805, most of the hyphen and wing windows date to the early twentieth-century restoration.
Woodlawn & Pope-Leighey House
The home was moved to Woodlawn, and being granted a lifetime tenancy, she occupied the house until her death in 1983. With its cypress siding looking as good as new, Pope-Leighey House stands ready for the upcoming Frank Lloyd Wright sesquicentennial celebrations. Amanda Phillips and her team, including volunteer docents such as Peter Christensen, are gearing up for new in-depth architectural tours of the house, as well as Twilight Wine and Cheese tours starting in May.
Construction
The two-bedroom, one-bath house with a den measures 1,200 square feet, but it seems bigger inside, thanks to Wright’s combination of high ceilings, large expanses of glass, and an open floor plan. Even the kitchen, which only holds one person comfortably, feels airy, with its tall slot window that floods the space with light. The roof restoration was finished in October 2023, making the project about sixteen weeks in total, costing around $250,000 in the end. For a home that’s only about 1200 square feet, this number may seem a bit high, but when you factor in its compelling history and world-renowned architect behind its design, the value today is truly priceless. The roofing project included complete removal and replacement of the existing protective roofing material, as well as all of the copper gravel stop flashing installed in 1995. Prior to the start of roof work, areas of concern where minor leaking had occurred were accounted for.
That belief falls at the very heart of Pope-Leighey House and the other Usonian houses Wright designed. He achieved their lower cost by using locally sourced materials when possible, and by reducing the footprint without sacrificing comfort. To make the houses feel bigger, he used high ceilings, open floorplans, compressed corridors, and efficient storage space.
Long and narrow windows bear the ceiling create a sense of spaciousness as well. Wright also made the house seem bigger than it is by creating an open floor plan, living the cypress boards and brickwork horizontally and designing store and furniture that would not fill and overwhelm the house. Today, the house is seen as an origin of Usonian thinking that influenced modern American homes. Wright designed this 1,200-square-foot house at a total cost of $7,000 for a journalist earning a $50-a-week salary.
Preservation in Progress: Restoring the Pope-Leighey House Roof
Although Pope-Leighey House is a relatively young house within the surrounding preservation community of Virginia, its history is highlighted by recognition of its architectural significance and its stakeholders’ efforts to protect it. After Loren and Charlotte Pope sold the property to Robert and Marjorie Leighey, the house was subject to demolition with the planned construction of a Falls Church, VA, segment of Interstate 66. Marjorie Leighey took considerable steps to raise awareness of the house in an effort to save it from demolition, even enlisting the personal efforts of Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall.
Which of the following are included in the cost of wedding catering?
Originally built in Falls Church, Virginia, in 1941, the home was commissioned by newspaper columnist Loren Pope. In 1963, the home came under threat of demolition due to the expansion of Interstate 66. Marjorie Leighey, then a widow, campaigned to save the home, eventually striking a deal with the National Trust for Historic Preservation to move the house to Woodlawn in exchange for lifetime tenancy at that site.
WOODLAWN MANSION UNDERWOOD ROOM FLOOD RESTORATION PROJECT IN PHOTOGRAPHS JANUARY, 2018
Frank Lloyd Wright's Pope-Leighey House - VirginiaLiving.com - Virginia Living
Frank Lloyd Wright's Pope-Leighey House - VirginiaLiving.com.
Posted: Mon, 20 Dec 2010 08:00:00 GMT [source]
So Wilson called upon National Trust staff and interns, plus students from the University of Mary Washington’s Center for Historic Preservation. By then, word had traveled about the Falls Church property, and the newspaper ad led to a flood of inquiries to the couple’s real estate agent. Most people who called were just trying to sneak a glimpse of the fabled house. So when Robert and Marjorie Leighey called to inquire about it, they had to prove they were serious buyers. They viewed the property that evening, and three months later, in February of 1947, they moved in. Exhausted by the grind of the newspaper business, Loren Pope sought a career change, and both he and Charlotte were seduced by the idea of living on a farm.
Walk through Wright's Pope-Leighey House - Fredericksburg.com
Walk through Wright's Pope-Leighey House.
Posted: Wed, 07 Jun 2017 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Commissioned in 1939 by Loren Pope, a journalist in Falls Church, the residence was sold to Robert and Marjorie Leighey in 1946. The house was in the path of an expansion of Highway 66, so in an effort to preserve the building, Mrs. Leighey gave the property to the National Trust, which relocated it to nearby Woodlawn and granted her lifetime tenancy. Wright's innovative use of four natural materials created a sense of a large, more spacious abode, in only 1,200 square feet.
The slab foundation and colored concrete topping slab were replaced during the relocations. And because the original mortar made it difficult to detach and reuse the bricks, new bricks and mortar were used to recreate the original brick walls, hearth, steps, and planters. After cracks appeared in the concrete floor and the roof developed leaks, a series of structural analyses and studies in the late 1980s and early ’90s indicated that the clay soil it was placed on during the 1965 relocation was unstable. Further, some of the roof drainage systems had been incorrectly installed during the house’s reassembly. In 1996, it was once again disassembled, moved, and reassembled, this time just 30 feet upslope from its second location.
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