Originally built in Falls Church, Virginia for Loren and Charlotte Pope, the 1,200-square-foot Frank Lloyd Wright home was under threat due to the construction of the new Interstate 66, but was saved by a historic hard-fought battle led by Marjorie Leighey, a 57-year-old widow, according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Sixty years ago, a house was reconstructed at Woodlawn, a National Trust-owned property outside of Washington, DC, after a historic and hard-fought battle to save it from destruction. Today, thousands of guests visit the unique house, the only property designed by America’s greatest architect that is open to the public in the National Capital region.
It was in 1939 that Loren Pope wrote to the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, begging him for a home for himself and his wife Charlotte It was in 1939 that Loren Pope wrote to the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, begging him for a home for himself and his wife Charlotte. The home was dismantled, moved, and reconstructed 13 miles away from Falls Church to Alexandria. After fighting for so long to ensure the survival of her home, Marjorie moved to Kyoto, Japan, to become an Episcopal missionary in September 1964, and did not witness the dismantling, move, and reconstruction of her house 13 miles away from Falls Church to Alexandria.
She was eventually won over by the way the home married the interior and exterior and as an avid gardener, she loved the way the house allowed her to see the surrounding landscape through a new lens.
“From the time I was five, I can remember wanting a house that was right with the earth,” she later said. In response, Wright designed a house in his Usonian style- relatively small, built from everyday materials like wood and concrete and designed in harmony with natural surroundings. They built a shed outside for items that could not fit in the house One of the people inspired by Marjorie’s determination was Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall. It was he and Marjorie, along with preservationists from the National Park Service and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, who finally devised a plan for saving the Pope-Leighy House.
