Pope-Leighey House

facing the home
Frank Lloyd Wright's take on an affordable American home
Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 projects, which resulted in more than 500 completed works. Wright promoted organic architecture (exemplified by Fallingwater), was a leader of the Prairie School movement of architecture (exemplified by the Robie House, the Westcott House, and the Darwin D. Martin House), and developed the concept of the Usonian home (exemplified by the Rosenbaum House). His work includes original and innovative examples of many different building types, including offices, churches, schools, skyscrapers, hotels, and museums. Wright also often designed many of the interior elements of his buildings, such as the furniture and stained glass.
The house of moderate cost is not only America’s major architectural problem but the problem most difficult for her major architects. -Frank Lloyd Wright, 1936
The Pope-Leighey House, formerly known as the Loren Pope Residence, is one of three suburban homes in Virginia designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. At the Pope-Leighey House now located at a site on Woodlawn Plantation in Mount Vernon VA, Frank Lloyd Wright strived to solve this problem. Today, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Pope-Leighey House is a National Trust Historic Site, owned and operated by The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a private, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to saving historic places and revitalizing America’s communities.
Woodlawn
Inside the home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
The design follows Wright's Usonian model of well-designed space for middle-income residents with a design that brings nature inside, using modest materials and a flat roof. This home has an L-shaped single-story floor plan with two bedrooms and a bathroom in one wing and living and dining areas in the other. At the juncture of the two wings are the home's entrance, a study and the kitchen. To accommodate the original site's slope, the house features two levels. The home has many interesting architectural details and furniture that was designed by Wright. Pope-Leighey House is open to visitors from April 8 to December 20 from  Thursday through Monday. Visitors are welcomed.
Pope Leighy House exterior
The Pope Leigh House is located near Fort Belvoir and Woodlawn in the Mount Vernon District of Fairfax County VA
An historic site of The National Trust for Historic Preservation, Pope-Leighey relies exclusively on admissions, shop purchases and tax-deductible contributions to support its mission.

For Sale in Nearby Woodlawn VA

 

Woodlawn Plantation

Woodlawn Plantation is a 126-acre estate that was originally part of George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate. Woodlawn is located at 9000 Richmond Highway, Alexandria, Virginia in Fairfax County near Fort Belvoir. Woodlawn's main Federal-style house was designed by the architect of the U.S. Capitol, Dr. William Thornton, and constructed between 1800 and 1805 for Washington’s nephew Major Lawrence Lewis and his bride, Eleanor "Nelly" Custis Lewis. During the Lewis’ years in residence, Woodlawn comprised over 2,000 acres and was worked by over 100 workers, at least 90 of whom were African American slaves. In 1846, the Lewis’s son sold the property to two families from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the Troths and the Gillinghams, who were members of The Society of Friends (Quakers). Ethically opposed to slavery, the Troths and Gillinghams established Woodlawn as a "free labor colony," selling lots to both free black and white farmers, and employing only free laborers to demonstrate as false the argument that the abolition of slavery would mean the death of the Southern plantation economy. This belief in liberty and equality made Woodlawn a controversial social experiment in its time and place, and its residents became a target of raids and suspicion by Confederate forces during the Civil War. By the turn of the 20th century, Woodlawn was sadly deteriorated and, in 1896, severely damaged by a hurricane. In 1901, the playwright Paul Kester moved in — with his mother, brother and 60 cats — and began "restoring" the house to livable conditions. In 1905, Kester moved on to nearby Gunston Hall, and sold Woodlawn to Miss Elizabeth Sharpe, a Pennsylvania coal heiress who spent two decades lovingly rehabilitating Woodlawn and its grounds to suit contemporary views of an ideal early American estate. Woodlawn’s final private owners were Senator and Mrs. Oscar Underwood of Alabama. Following Mrs. Underwood’s death, it was purchased by a private organization to ensure its preservation. In 1952, Woodlawn became the first historic site owned by The National Trust for Historic Preservation. For more information call (703) 780-4000 or visit  www.woodlawn1805.org

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