Situated on 126 acres in Alexandria, Virginia are three pieces of very important and historic real estate. One is a working farm, one is a mansion built in 1805 and gifted to Nelly Custis and Lawrence Lewis by none other than the first president of the United States, George Washington. The land is known as Woodlawn, and was originally part of a large plot of land owned by George Washington.
Photo Credit: “Frank Lloyd Wright’s Pope-Leighey House” by melissa.delzio is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
Tours
The Pope-Leighey House and Woodlawn Estate are sites of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. (Woodlawn was part of George Washington’s Mount Vernon.) The Leighey House was moved to the site due to the expansion of Highway 66. Both homes can be toured. Reservations are recommended and tickets can be purchased online at woodlawnpopeleighey.org.
Rent Pope-Leighey
The Pope-Leighey House can be rented for weddings and other events but is not available for overnight stays. For more information, visit woodlawnpopeleighey.org
Location
Also situated there is the Pope-Leighey house, a Usonian home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright designed more than 100 of these “Usonian” homes for modest, middle-class Americans. Completed in 1940, this particular structure was commissioned by Loren Pope in 1939 and built in Falls Church, Virginia. It was later sold to Robert and Marjorie Leighey in 1946. The smallish, 1200 square foot home is thus named for its previous owners, (Loren) Pope and (Robert and Marjorie) Leighey.
Nearby Interstate Route 66 runs from western Virginia east to Washington, D.C. When plans were made to expand Highway 66, the Pope-Leighey house was directly in the path of the expansion and was likely slated for demolition. Mrs. Leighey chose to save the structure and gave the property to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The home was moved to Woodlawn, and being granted a lifetime tenancy, she occupied the house until her death in 1983.
The house became unstable on the clay soil underneath it, and subsequently it was moved a second time, relocated about three hundred feet uphill to a more suitable and stable location in 1995. It is the only Wright house in the area regularly open for tours and events. Uniquely, it contains the original furniture created when it was designed.
Resources, Links & Products
Browse these resources for more information about this FLW Building, it’s history and information about the region.