Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 10/06/1970
NRHP Listing Date 12/18/1970
NRHP Reference Number 70000791
A monument in domestic architecture to the egalitarian faith of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the Pope-Leighey House is the third and perhaps the most representative of Wright’s Usonian houses. Wright developed the Usonian, or U. S.-onian, concept as a means of providing practical, economic housing with the quality and clarity of design Wright believed essential to modern American life. The house was designed in 1939 for Loren B. Pope, who lived in it until 1947 when it was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Leighey. Threatened by highway construction, the house was dismantled and moved from Falls Church in 1965 and rebuilt under the sponsorship of the National Trust for Historic Preservation on the grounds of Woodlawn Plantation. The Pope-Leighey House, preserving most of its Wright-designed furniture, is exhibited by the National Trust as a landmark of Wrightian design and American modernity. The house is within the listed Woodlawn Cultural Landscape Historic District.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Updated: June 27, 2022
