What is the Pope Leighey House? Well, its architect is Frank Lloyd Wright, a man who has designed many structures across the United States of America to include Kentucky Knob and the world famous ‘Fallingwater’ a house built over a waterfall in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The Pope-Leighey was originally built in Falls Church, Virginia, but it was relocated to the property of the Woodlawn Plantation to save it from being demolished. The home is named for the owners of the house. The original owner was Loren Pope, a journalist, but he later sold the home to Robert and Marjorie Leighey. Robert passed away leaving Marjorie alone. The home was relocated to the Woodlawn property after she donated the home to the National Trust. She continued to live in the house until her death in 1983. Today, you can take a tour of the Pope-Leighey House and see the fine work of a great architect.
Some of you are saying, “This is nice. It is great that they were able to preserve this house. Frank Lloyd Wright designed some of the greatest houses in the world. There is a problem. This house has no history with the railroad. Therefore, I will not be visiting this place.”
You have a point. This house has nothing to do with the railroad. So what is the point of visiting this house if it has no connection with railroad history?
As mentioned, Frank Lloyd Wright is an architect that designed many great homes and structures across the United States of America of which the Pope-Leighey House is one of them. He designed houses not only to be affordable, but he designed houses to maximize space in a small space meaning that he created small rooms and was able to create plenty of space within these small rooms. Yes, it sounds confusing, but he pulled it off. Where did he come up with this idea? Well, the answer came from something known as the Pullman car. Yes, the same Pullman cars used on the railroad where the sleeper cars had the private rooms where maximum space was created in a small room.
The Pope-Leighey House is located on the property with Woodlawn, and you can tour both properties for one price. They are located at 9000 Richmond Highway (U.S. Route 1) in Alexandria, Virginia. The properties are open from Mid-April to mid-December. You can get more information at http://www.woodlawnpopeleighey.org/.
Next time you think about Frank Lloyd Wright, think of a man whose ideas had the railroad in mind.
John Cowgill: Stories of the Railroad 
Reblogged this on John Cowgill's Literature Site.
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