Pope–Leighey House facts for kids
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Pope–Leighey House
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 Location in Virginia
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| Location | East of Accotink off US 1, near Alexandria, Virginia |
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| Built | 1941 |
| Architect | Frank Lloyd Wright |
| Architectural style | Usonian |
| NRHP reference No. | 70000791 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | December 18, 1970 |
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The Pope–Leighey House is a special home in Virginia. It was designed by a famous American architect named Frank Lloyd Wright. This house is now owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
What makes this house unique is that it has been moved two times! Today, it sits on the land of Woodlawn Plantation in Alexandria, Virginia. The Pope–Leighey House is one of only three homes in Virginia designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The other two are the Andrew B. Cooke House and the Luis Marden House.
Contents
How the House Was Planned
The Pope–Leighey House was ordered in 1939 by a journalist named Loren Pope and his wife, Charlotte. It was one of the first "Usonian" houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Usonian homes were Wright's idea for affordable, well-designed houses for regular American families. The house was finished in 1941 in Falls Church, Virginia.
Loren Pope first learned about Frank Lloyd Wright from a 1938 Time Magazine article. This article showed Wright's amazing work, like the famous Fallingwater house. In the article, Wright said he wanted to design homes for middle-class families. Loren Pope, who was looking for a new house, saw this as a great chance.
Pope met Wright at a conference and asked if he would design a house for someone like him. Wright said he only built houses for "people who deserved them," like middle-class families. He said he would never design for people in the real estate business. This made Pope even more excited. He read Wright's autobiography and decided he had to have a house designed by him.
Pope wrote to Wright, saying he had one big wish: "a house created by you." Wright agreed! Pope then traveled to Wright's Taliesin estate in Wisconsin to talk about the plans.
Building on a Budget
Loren Pope was a copy editor and earned $50 a week. He told Wright he could spend $5,000 on the house. This was much less than what Wright's designs usually cost. It was hard for Pope to borrow money. One lender even warned him the house could be a "white elephant." This means it would cost a lot but not be worth much later.
But Pope was determined. His employer, the Washington Evening Star, lent him $5,700. Wright knew about the Popes' budget. He made the house smaller, from 1,800 square feet to 1,200 square feet. In the end, the house cost $7,000. This was a very low price for a Wright design. It fit Wright's goal of making good homes affordable for middle-class families.
Wright's Usonian Style
Frank Lloyd Wright was a leading architect in the American modern architecture movement. By the 1930s, many people thought Wright only designed for the rich. He wanted to change this. He also truly believed that architecture could help improve society.
So, Wright created the Usonian style, specifically for middle-class Americans. The Pope–Leighey House is a perfect example of this style. Wright even thought it was some of his best work. He almost named it "Touchstone."
Usonian homes have many special features:
- They are often shaped like an "L."
- They have flat roofs.
- They use natural building materials.
- They have parts that stick out without support, like a cantilevered carport.
- They blend the indoors with the outdoors.
Wright believed that buildings should make people feel good. He wanted his designs to help the middle-class families who lived in them. At the Pope–Leighey House, Wright even designed the appliances, furniture, and decorations. He thought about every part of the Popes' life in the house.
Form and Function
A key idea in modern architecture was functionalism. This meant that a building's design should be based only on its purpose. Wright's mentor, Louis Sullivan, was a big supporter of this.
Wright changed this idea a bit. He believed that form (how something looks) and function (what it does) are connected. He wanted his designs to be practical but also artistic. The main carpenter of the Pope–Leighey House said Wright's plans were "logical."
Wright did not like the typical box shape of houses. He wanted spaces to flow freely. Rooms could merge, and ceiling heights could change. He wanted a house to feel open but also safe. This idea came from new scientific discoveries about how buildings affect people's feelings.
Connecting with Nature
Wright also wanted to blur the line between inside and outside. He thought a house should look like it grew naturally from the ground. He often got ideas from nature.
In the Pope–Leighey House, you can see this in the materials. The brick and wood make it feel like a "rustic hide-out in the mountains." Loren Pope said the "walls seemed to be only screens." You can even see stars from inside the house next to the fireplace! The French doors open to connect the living room with the patio and lawn. Wright wanted the house to feel like "a happy, cloudless day."
House Design Details
The Pope–Leighey House is shaped like an "L." This shape often helps create an outdoor garden space. Where the two parts of the "L" meet, you find the entrance, a study, and the kitchen. One part of the "L" has two bedrooms and a bathroom. The other part has a living room, dining area, and library all in one open space. The living room ceiling is 11.5 feet (3.5 m) high.
The house has one story but two levels. This helps it fit the natural slope of the land. Wright had planned a workshop, but it was removed to keep the cost down. Three brick pillars hold up the roof.
Glass is used a lot in the house. The French doors and a strip of clerestory windows (windows placed high up on a wall) let in lots of natural light and fresh air. These windows have a unique pattern that creates beautiful light patterns inside.
These windows, along with vents and a concrete floor, help control the house's temperature naturally. This was very new for its time. Hot water pipes under the concrete floor provide extra heat. This natural heating and cooling system is common in Usonian houses.
The brick and wood in the house are not painted. They are treated with clear wax to show their natural beauty. The floor is a special color called Cherokee Red, which was one of Wright's favorite colors.
There is a cantilevered carport over the driveway. A cantilevered structure sticks out from a building without support from below. Wright used these often in his designs.
Wright also designed the furniture for the house. It was included when the Popes bought it. This shows the Usonian idea that a house should be practical and easy to live in, not just pretty. Wright believed the inside was as important as the outside.
Wright wanted the house to look exactly as he planned. When a magnolia tree Pope planted grew taller than the carport roof, Wright told him to cut it down. He said it messed up his design. Wright also watched Pope extend the brick patio. He would tell Pope if the job was too messy!
Building the House
Construction started in 1940. Wright chose his apprentice, Gordon Chadwick, to oversee the building. Howard Rickert was the main carpenter. Wright liked to be involved in every step and visited the site many times.
Usonian homes did not use ready-made parts. Every piece, like windows and doors, had to be built right there on the site.
When the house was finished, Wright felt it cost too much. He was worried about the Popes' ability to pay. He also wanted to stick to his Usonian idea of making homes affordable for middle-class families. So, Wright never asked for his final payment. The Pope family moved into their new home in 1941.
First Time the House Moved
The Popes lived in the house for five years. After their young son passed away and they had two more children, they decided to move. In 1946, they sold the house to Robert and Marjorie Leighey for $17,000. The Popes moved to a farm, hoping Wright would design a bigger home for them there. But Loren Pope couldn't afford a new home until 1959. By then, Wright was busy designing the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.
In 1964, the Virginia Department of Highways said the house would be torn down to build Interstate 66. They offered $25,605 for it. Robert Leighey had died in 1963, so Marjorie had to deal with this alone.
Marjorie refused the money. Instead, she gave the house to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In return, she could live there for the rest of her life. The National Trust tried to save the house from being destroyed. They asked the governor of Virginia if the highway could be moved. This idea was denied.
So, the house was carefully taken apart, moved, and rebuilt on another property owned by the National Trust. This new spot was Woodlawn Plantation in Alexandria, Virginia. Woodlawn was a large estate that once belonged to George Washington.
The house opened to the public as the Pope–Leighey House in 1965. Marjorie Leighey continued to live there from 1969 until she passed away in 1983.
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Second Time the House Moved
The house's first spot at Woodlawn Plantation was on unstable ground called marine clay. This caused the base of the house to crack. So, in 1995, the house was moved again! This time, it only moved about 30 feet away. This second move cost $500,000.
The house is still in that spot today. It shares the historic site with Woodlawn Plantation. The National Trust has kept the house just as Wright intended it to be lived in. It still has the original decorations and furniture. This way, visitors can see Frank Lloyd Wright's amazing Usonian vision.
See also
- List of Frank Lloyd Wright works
- Andrew B. Cooke House, Virginia Beach, Virginia
- Marden House, Mclean, Virginia
