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BLUEPRINTS VOLUME XXI, NO. 2

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: • The Pope-Leighey House

• No Ordinary Clients:The Story of Luis and Ethel Marden

• An Interview with James Kimsey

• “Coonley” and “Wright”

Volume XXIV, No. 3 Summer 2006

NATIONAL BUILDING MUSEUM

Prairie Skyscraper: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Price Tower

through September 17, 2006

The only true skyscraper

designed by Wright that was

actually constructed, the Price

Tower is a glimmering jewel

of a building. The exhibition

includes original drawings,

fascinating samples of corre-

spondence between Wright and

the project’s client, furniture,

and a large model of the tower.

The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture and Design

through June 3, 2007

The second in a series of major

National Building Museum

exhibitions on sustainable

design, The Green House begins

with a full-scale, furnished

replica of an environmentally-

friendly house. Also featured

are photographs and models

of exemplary houses and

apartment buildings from

around the world, plus a

resource room with many

examples of materials that are

both green and attractive.

Cityscapes Revealed:Highlights from the Collection

Long-term

The first exhibition presenting

a cross-section of items from

the Museum’s own collection,

including drawings, photo-

graphs, material samples,

and artifacts from National

Historic Landmarks.

Washington: Symbol and City

Long-term

A seminal exhibition about

the complex city that the

Museum calls home.

Spectacular, large-scale historic

and contemporary models

give visitors an intimate

understanding of the city’s

past and possible future.

hibitio

M US E U M HOU RSMonday – Saturday, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

Sunday, 11:00 am – 5:00 pm

Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day

NATIONAL BUILDING MUSEUM401 F Street NW Washington, DC 20001202.272.2448 / www.NBM.orgRed Line Metro, Judiciary Square

Nonprofit OrganizationU.S. Postage PaidWashington, DCPermit No. 488

Blueprints is the quarterly journal of the

National Building Museum. Subscriptions

are a benefit of Museum membership.

ISSN 0742-0552

editor / G. Martin Moeller, Jr.

designer / Jennifer Byrne

blueprints

TR USTE ES AN D STAFF

B O A R D O F TR U STE E S

Officers

ChairCarolyn Brody

Chair ElectMichael J. Glosserman

Vice ChairsGilbert E. DeLormeDavid C. EvansWill MillerRobert A.M. Stern

SecretaryDavid C. Evans

TreasurerRobert H. Braunohler

PresidentChase W. Rynd

Trustees

William B. Alsup IIIFrank AntonThomas N. Armstrong IIIDavid S. BenderDeborah BerkeWilliam M. BrennanJoan Bagget CalambokidisDonald A. CapocciaKent W. ColtonDennis J. CotterChristopher DorvalJohn P. Gleason, Jr.Mike GoodrichDelon HamptonGary HaneyRobert W. Holleyman, IIJoseph F. Horning, Jr.Gerald M. HowardMercy JiménezFrederick A. KoberA. Eugene KohnStephen S. LashTerrence M. McDermottDeryl McKissackHollis S. McLoughlinBrian T. McVayMelissa A. MossRobert A. PeckWhayne S. QuinPhilippe RollierRichard M. RosanStephen M. RossDeborah Ratner SalzbergStephen E. SandherrEric ThorkilsenJames W. ToddNorbert W. Young, Jr.

Honorary Trustees

Harold L. AdamsHoward M. BenderM. Arthur Gensler Jr.Thomas J. KlutznickStuart A. McFarlandRobert McLean IIIElizabeth B. MoynihanMarilyn PerryMallory WalkerLeonard A. Zax

Founding Trustees

Cynthia R. FieldHerbert M. FranklinEdward T. HallNancy Stevenson Beverly Willis

Ex Officio Trustees

The Honorable Dirk KempthorneSecretary, U.S. Department of the Interior

The Honorable Alphonso JacksonSecretary, U.S. Department ofHousing and Urban Development

The Honorable James M. Inhofe Chairman, Senate Committee onEnvironment and Public Works

The Honorable Don YoungChairman, House Committee onTransportation and Infrastructure

Lurita DoanAdministrator, General ServicesAdministration

David L. WinsteadCommissioner, Public BuildingsService, General ServicesAdministration

The Honorable Alan M. HantmanArchitect of the Capitol

Allen WeinsteinArchivist of the United States

The Honorable James H. BillingtonLibrarian of Congress

Lawrence M. SmallSecretary, Smithsonian Institution

Richard MoePresident, National Trust forHistoric Preservation

Christine McEnteeExecutive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer The American Institute ofArchitects

STA F F

Administration

Jennifer BertschExecutive Assistant and Manager of Board Relations

Don HolstromSystems Administrator

Betsy May-SalazarVice President for Finance and Administration

G. Martin Moeller, Jr.Senior Vice President and Curator

Chase W. RyndExecutive Director

Rebecca WarwickHuman Resources Manager

Finance

Diane BeckhamController

Laura LeonardAccounting Coordinator

Curatorial

Chrysanthe B. BroikosCurator

Shelagh M. ColeRegistrar/ Manager of TravelingExhibitions

Catherine Crane FrankelDirector of Exhibitions and Collections

Cecelia GibsonRegistrar

William H. C. GriffithExhibitions Coordinator

Reed HaslachCuratorial Associate

Matthew KuhnertCuratorial Associate

Christopher MaclayPreparator

Susan Piedmont-PalladinoCurator

Laura SchiavoCurator

Deborah SorensenCuratorial Associate

Dana TwerskySenior Registrar

MaryJane E. ValadeExhibitions Designer andPreparator

Education

Corinne CannonYouth Groups Coordinator

Liz GuthrieAssistant Outreach ProgramsCoordinator

Mary HendrickseAssistant Youth GroupsCoordinator

Paul F. KillmerDirector of Public Programs

Scott KratzVice President for Education

Ann LambsonDirector of Youth Education

Kathryn McGillOutreach Programs Coordinator

Jennifer MichaelreeAssociate Youth GroupsCoordinator

Sarah Petty RiceFamily Programs Coordinator

Sarah SmithYouth Education Assistant

Jaime Van MourikPublic Programs Coordinator

Development

Suzanne BissellDirector of Individual Giving

Sangita ChariFoundation and GovernmentRelations Manager

Michael DunaganDirector of Institutional Giving

Elika HemphillDirector of Development Events

Melinda HungermanCorporate and AssociationRelations Manager

Caitlin IrvinDevelopment Assistant

Melissa SlaughterMembership Manager

Shar TaylorVice President for Development

Mary ZeheAssistant Director of Development

Marketing & Communications

Jennifer ByrnePublications Designer

Bryna LipperDirector of Marketing andCommunications

Kevin MorseWebsite Administrator

Julia NeubauerEditor/Writer

Lauren SearlMarketing and CommunicationsAssociate

Museum Shop

Leslie BradshawAssistant Manager

Marcia DiehlOperations Manager

Scott GlasscoeInventory Specialist

Michael HigdonRetail Manager

Tom ZiolkowskiAssociate

Special Events

Christopher FrameDirector of Special Events

Charles ShelbySpecial Events Coordinator

Bill SnitzerSpecial Events Coordinator

Visitor Services

Kristi CotnerTour and Volunteer Coordinator

Barry EdmundsWeekend Assistant MuseumServices Manager

Danielle FloresAdministrative Assistant/Receptionist

Ronald Keith FulwoodInformation Desk Specialist

David KaplanInformation Desk Specialist

Annie KalinowskiTour and Volunteer Assistant

Rose Marie KirwinInformation Desk Specialist

Doris LandauInformation Desk Specialist

Susan MittlemanInformation Desk Specialist

Bryan NormanMuseum Operations Coordinator

Allen TravitzVisitor Services Manager

Gallery Representatives

Monique AndersonWilliam BarnesPatricia CunninghamHarriet CywinskiBarry EdmundsBeverly FennellJessie HarleyJennifer HeimbeckerLouise JohnsonNathaniel KulykBarry LustbergJana MartinNanci McCollumCarla PattersonErma PersonSeymour SeligMatthew SeymourCrystal WatsonMary West Shamika WhiteKaren WhitehairSarah WhitelowEvelyn WilsonFred WilsonViktor Zavadsky

Contents

1 Message from the Executive Director

3 The Pope-Leighey House

8 No Ordinary Clients:

The Story of Luis and Ethel Marden

12 The Marden House:

An Interview with James Kimsey

14 “Coonley” and “Wright”

15 Museum News

18 Support

20 Mystery Building

The NationalBuildingMuseumexplores

the world we build

for ourselves—from our homes,

skyscrapers and public buildings to our parks, bridges, and cities. Through exhibitions, education programs, and publications, the Museum seeks to educate the public about achievements in architecture, design, engineering, urban planning, and construction.

The Museum is supported by contributionsfrom individuals, corporations, foundations,associations, and public agencies.

cover / The main living area of theMarden House, in McLean, Virginia, by Frank Lloyd Wright. Photo by Robert C. Lautman, courtesy of Lautman Photography.

This unusual and fascinating buildingis the subject of an exhibition titled PrairieSkyscraper: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Price Tower,which is on view at the National BuildingMuseum through September 17. Organizedby the Price Tower Arts Center, whichowns—and occupies part of—the build-ing, the exhibition delves into the historyof the tower’s design. It includes drawings,photographs, original furniture, corre-spondence between Wright and his client,and samples of the building’s architecturalornament. The exhibition itself wasdesigned by the firm of Zaha HadidArchitects, which has also designed a pro-posed addition to the Price Tower ArtsCenter. Both in the exhibition and in theproposed expansion, Hadid’s characteristicsharp angles and dynamic forms master-fully play off of the geometry of the origi-nal building.

I want to thank the sponsors whomade the presentation of the exhibition atthe National Building Museum possible.The Copper Development Association is ourlead sponsor, and there’s a good reason forthe association’s enthusiasm for the show:much of the Price Tower’s distinct charac-ter derives from the beautiful green patinaof the copper panels and louvers that lineits façades. We also received major supportfrom Mr. C.J. Silas of Bartlesville, who ischairman of the board of the Price TowerArts Center. Finally, we are grateful toRestore Media, LLC for its sponsorship of aprivate opening reception for the show.

(continued on page 2)

M ESSAG E FROM TH E EX ECUT I VE D I R ECTOR

blueprints 1

THE WORD “GENIUS” IS OFTEN USED TOO

casually, but it seems to be quite legiti-mately applied to Frank Lloyd Wright.

In a career spanning nearly three quartersof a century, Wright was at the vanguardof dramatic theoretical, technological, andstylistic shifts in architecture—not justonce, but several times. While he designedbuildings all across the country and evenoverseas, he maintained a strong affinityfor the vast American prairie, where hewas born and spent most of his life. Under-standably, therefore, many of Wright’s mostfamous buildings were insistently horizon-tal, reflecting the broad and relatively flatexpanse of the Midwestern terrain.

One striking exception to that rule isthe Price Tower, in Bartlesville, Oklahoma,completed 50 years ago and recentlyrestored to its full glory. It is Wright’s onlytrue skyscraper that was actually executed(the S.C. Johnson Research Tower inRacine, Wisconsin, seems too small to qual-ify for that term, and Wright’s proposedMile-High Skyscraper remains an unbuiltfantasy, though I would not be surprised tosee an equally tall structure under way inDubai any day now).

The Price Tower is unique not onlywithin Wright’s oeuvre of completedworks, but also in the history of tall build-ings. A masterful composition of verticaland horizontal elements, it is a soaringform that nonetheless manages to seemfirmly rooted to the land. It stands as arebuke to the dominant threads in the his-tory of modern skyscrapers—richly col-ored, textured, and faceted, with a dynam-ic, pinwheel plan, the tower contrastssharply with the boxy International Styleskyscrapers that punctuate most Americanskylines. In a sense, it represents the roadnot taken in the design of modern towers.

Chase W. Rynd

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Tower on the Prairie

Protecting the Wright Legacy

I recently had the opportunity to serve as

a member of the team that reviewed the

operations of the Frank Lloyd Wright

Preservation Trust for renewal of its

accreditation by the American Association

of Museums. The trust manages Wright’s

Home and Studio in Oak Park, Illinois, and

the famed Frederick C. Robie House on the

University of Chicago campus, both of

which are National Historic Landmarks

that are open to the public.

Participation in accreditation visits to

other institutions is always an enlighten-

ing experience for museum professionals.

Through such activities, I and the Museum

overall establish and strengthen connec-

tions with other organizations that often

prove valuable in our efforts to organize

engaging exhibitions and programs.

Chase W. Rynd

Included is an interview with LorenPope, who commissioned Wright to designa modest structure now known as the Pope-Leighey House. Pope, who is now 96, clear-ly recalls many details about the designand construction process and his relation-ship with Wright. The second major pieceis an article about the relatively little-known Marden House, which was designedfor an extraordinary Washington coupleand is now owned by AOL co-founder JamesKimsey, who was also interviewed for thisissue. A short, first-hand piece by AveryFaulker, a Washington-area architect whosegrandparents commissioned one ofWright’s most famous houses, rounds outthe focus on the residential work of theman many people consider to be the great-est American architect in history. •

FEATU R E

2 blueprints blueprints 3

I N 1939, A YOUNG JOURNALIST NAMED

LOREN POPE wrote a three-page letter toFrank Lloyd Wright asking him to design

a house for his family. Pope said that hehad one-and-a-third acres of land in FallsChurch, Virginia, and could afford tospend $5,000. Wright accepted the job, andwent on to create a house that was laterpraised by Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., son of thecouple who commissioned Wright’s famousFallingwater, as the architect’s “greatestlegacy to the nation.” It was one ofWright’s first “Usonian” houses, his visionof affordable living for the “family of moderate income.”

In the 65 years since its completion, the Pope-Leighey House—named after itstwo private owners—has been dismantledand moved twice, once to avoid the con-struction of Interstate 66 and once becauseof subsurface soil problems, yet it stilllooks as contemporary and welcoming as itdid when the Popes moved in, in March1941. It now stands on a wooded site tenmiles south of Old Town Alexandria, on a2,000-acre estate once owned by GeorgeWashington.

The story of the design, constructionand lasting legacy of the Pope-LeigheyHouse is one of a confluence of the lives oftwo people, 50 years apart in age, but kin-dred spirits with a shared philosophy oflife. Loren Pope fit the profile of the per-fect Wright client: creative, searching fortruth, and someone who had already readWright’s An Autobiography.

Wright was 72 years old, experiencinga renaissance of recognition and significantcommissions as he entered the most prolificperiod of his career, having recently com-pleted the Jacobs House, Fallingwater, andthe Johnson Wax Administration Building,to name a few. Pope was 28 years old,newly married and living above Ware’sDrugstore in Falls Church, Virginia.

Today, Loren Pope is 96 years old andcan vividly recall the events leading up tohis first meeting with Wright, the euphoriaof watching the master develop his design,a construction process that attracted curiousvisitors from around the area and, mostimportantly, his life-long relationship withWright, as well as with Gordon Chadwick,the Taliesin apprentice assigned to the pro-ject, and Howard Rickert, the youngVienna, Virginia, carpenter who constructedthe house.

I recently met with Loren to talkabout his house.

top / Price Tower at night. © Christian M. Korab/ Korab Photo, 2003.Courtesy of Price Tower Arts Center.

right / Price Tower commissary tableand stools, 1956. Courtesy of Price Tower Arts Center.

An Interview with Loren PopeThe Pope-Leighey House

by Steven M. Reiss, AIA

The Summer of Wright

The Prairie Skyscraper exhibition is one ele-ment in a series of initiatives at the NationalBuilding Museum that we have groupedtogether under the heading “The Summer ofWright.” Lectures, films, and family activi-ties addressing Wrightian themes comple-ment the exhibition. I encourage you tocheck the Museum’s website or the monthlyCalendar of Events for details regarding thisrelated programming.

This issue of Blueprints is another element of “The Summer of Wright.” ThePrice Tower was designed and built in the1950s, when Wright was already in his 80sbut still working as actively as ever. Duringthis period, even as he was focusing muchof his energy on high-profile public andinstitutional projects such as theGuggenheim Museum and the MarinCounty Government Center, Wright neverstopped designing single-family houses. Inthis issue you will find articles related toseveral of Wright’s residential works,focusing on two of the three private houseshe designed for the Washington area.

Loren Pope in front of the Pope-Leighey House. Photo courtesy of Loren Pope.

Steven Reiss, AIA, coordinates

the monthly technical tours

of the Pope-Leighey House

and is a former chairman of

HNTB Architecture.

(continued from page 1)

Included is an interview with LorenPope, who commissioned Wright to designa modest structure now known as the Pope-Leighey House. Pope, who is now 96, clear-ly recalls many details about the designand construction process and his relation-ship with Wright. The second major pieceis an article about the relatively little-known Marden House, which was designedfor an extraordinary Washington coupleand is now owned by AOL co-founder JamesKimsey, who was also interviewed for thisissue. A short, first-hand piece by AveryFaulker, a Washington-area architect whosegrandparents commissioned one ofWright’s most famous houses, rounds outthe focus on the residential work of theman many people consider to be the great-est American architect in history. •

FEATU R E

I N 1939, A YOUNG JOURNALIST NAMED

LOREN POPE wrote a three-page letter toFrank Lloyd Wright asking him to design

a house for his family. Pope said that hehad one-and-a-third acres of land in FallsChurch, Virginia, and could afford tospend $5,000. Wright accepted the job, andwent on to create a house that was laterpraised by Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., son of thecouple who commissioned Wright’s famousFallingwater, as the architect’s “greatestlegacy to the nation.” It was one ofWright’s first “Usonian” houses, his visionof affordable living for the “family of moderate income.”

In the 65 years since its completion, the Pope-Leighey House—named after itstwo private owners—has been dismantledand moved twice, once to avoid the con-struction of Interstate 66 and once becauseof subsurface soil problems, yet it stilllooks as contemporary and welcoming as itdid when the Popes moved in, in March1941. It now stands on a wooded site tenmiles south of Old Town Alexandria, on a2,000-acre estate once owned by GeorgeWashington.

The story of the design, constructionand lasting legacy of the Pope-LeigheyHouse is one of a confluence of the lives oftwo people, 50 years apart in age, but kin-dred spirits with a shared philosophy oflife. Loren Pope fit the profile of the per-fect Wright client: creative, searching fortruth, and someone who had already readWright’s An Autobiography.

Wright was 72 years old, experiencinga renaissance of recognition and significantcommissions as he entered the most prolificperiod of his career, having recently com-pleted the Jacobs House, Fallingwater, andthe Johnson Wax Administration Building,to name a few. Pope was 28 years old,newly married and living above Ware’sDrugstore in Falls Church, Virginia.

Today, Loren Pope is 96 years old andcan vividly recall the events leading up tohis first meeting with Wright, the euphoriaof watching the master develop his design,a construction process that attracted curiousvisitors from around the area and, mostimportantly, his life-long relationship withWright, as well as with Gordon Chadwick,the Taliesin apprentice assigned to the pro-ject, and Howard Rickert, the youngVienna, Virginia, carpenter who constructedthe house.

I recently met with Loren to talkabout his house.

top / Price Tower at night. © Christian M. Korab/ Korab Photo, 2003.Courtesy of Price Tower Arts Center.

right / Price Tower commissary tableand stools, 1956. Courtesy of Price Tower Arts Center.

An Interview with Loren PopeThe Pope-Leighey House

by Steven M. Reiss, AIA

The Summer of Wright

The Prairie Skyscraper exhibition is one ele-ment in a series of initiatives at the NationalBuilding Museum that we have groupedtogether under the heading “The Summer ofWright.” Lectures, films, and family activi-ties addressing Wrightian themes comple-ment the exhibition. I encourage you tocheck the Museum’s website or the monthlyCalendar of Events for details regarding thisrelated programming.

This issue of Blueprints is another element of “The Summer of Wright.” ThePrice Tower was designed and built in the1950s, when Wright was already in his 80sbut still working as actively as ever. Duringthis period, even as he was focusing muchof his energy on high-profile public andinstitutional projects such as theGuggenheim Museum and the MarinCounty Government Center, Wright neverstopped designing single-family houses. Inthis issue you will find articles related toseveral of Wright’s residential works,focusing on two of the three private houseshe designed for the Washington area.

Loren Pope in front of the Pope-Leighey House. Photo courtesy of Loren Pope.

Steven Reiss, AIA, coordinates

the monthly technical tours

of the Pope-Leighey House

and is a former chairman of

HNTB Architecture.

THE POPE-LEIGHEY HOUSE: AN INTERVIEW WITH LOREN POPE

above / Historic photograph of theliving and dining areas. Courtesy of Woodlawn Plantation.

below left / Living area and library of the Pope-Leighey House. Photo by Steve Reiss.

Floor plan of the Pope-Leighey House. Courtesy of Woodlawn Plantation.

Steven Reiss: How did you first hear about

Frank Lloyd Wright?

Loren Pope: I was working at my first news-paper job for the Washington Evening Star andjust out of college, when my boss suggestedI look up a kindred maverick thinker andarchitect, Frank Lloyd Wright. I did someinitial research and found Wright’sWasmuth papers. The sepia tone of thedrawings did not appeal to me so I didn’tdo any further reading. In January 1938, aTime magazine article again sparked myinterest in Wright and his recently pub-lished An Autobiography. I borrowed thebook from the library, returned it the nextday, bought my own copy and soaked upevery chapter two and three times beforegoing on to the next. Long before the bookwas finished, the light had become daz-zling and I was a true believer. From AnAutobiography on, my bride and I stoppedthinking about the picket-fence Cape Codwe had initially planned to build.

SR: Do you remember the first time you met him?

LP: Later in 1938, Wright was in D.C. to dis-cuss his design of Crystal Heights, a com-plex [never built] which would haveincluded the largest building in theDistrict. He gave a presentation to theAssociation of Federal Architects at theHay-Adams Hotel. I went with my friendEd Rowan, who headed up the New Deal

art program, and our wives. After Wright’sspeech I gathered up the nerve to ask if hemight someday consider creating a housefor me. He replied that he built them onlyfor people like me—“people who deservedthem.” He added that he never built hous-es for real estate men or subdividers, ofwhich I was neither.

SR: How did you get up the nerve to write him a

letter asking him to design your house?

LP: Faith filters out fear (and some error).I was making the grand sum of $50 a weekworking as a copy editor and living aboveWare’s Drugstore in Falls Church, newlymarried. With the encouragement and urg-ing of my friend, Ed, I decided that nomatter how busy or important, the masterwould listen to someone who wanted oneof his works so much. I wrote and rewrotethe letter at least half a dozen times.When I finally dropped it in the mailbox, Ifelt that I had poured out my heart as bestI could and that he would listen to me. Iincluded along with it a map of the site,contours, and trees. It was a letter that noman with a normal ego could ignore.

SR: How did you begin your letter?

LP: “Dear Mr. Wright, There are certainthings a man wants during life, and of life.Material things and things of the spirit.The writer has one fervent wish thatincludes both. It is a house created by you.”

SR: And how did Mr. Wright respond?

LP: Every day I would go to the East FallsChurch post office. Finally after threeweeks I received a buff-colored envelopewith a red logo in the corner. Inside was athin and terse reply. “Dear Loren Pope, Ofcourse I’m ready to give you a house.”

SR: Your first meeting with Wright in Taliesin—

can you describe it?

LP: Yes, en route I had an exciting bonus.In Madison, Wisconsin, I had an opportu-nity to see the first Usonian house and themodel for mine. It was built for newspa-perman Herbert Jacobs. When I walked inthe door, the thrill of actually findingmyself in the kind of Wright house that Iwould have gave me goose bumps. The floorwas red concrete with carpets made offlax, the walls were 11-inch-wide cypress

boards and three-inch-wide pine battens.The doors went around the corners withno supports and the dining and livingareas flowed into each other around thebrick fireplace. In the flesh it was all warmand inviting, as a dream house should be.A Wright apprentice picked me up at theJacobs house to take me to Taliesin. WhenI entered the house, the photographs I’dpored over could not prepare me for thevision of beauty I walked into. Ceilinglines soared. Rich, colorful rugs coveredmost of the waxed stone floor. There was afire in the great stone fireplace, Japanesescreens in green and gold and elegantWright-designed furniture. All waswarmed in the glow of concealed lightingand bathed in soft music.

I shook the master’s hand and greetedMrs. Wright. Much of the conversationbefore dinner was about his autobiography.Dinner was served by several of hisapprentices and although I am interestedin food, I have no recollection of themenu. It seems most of the conversationwas about the New Deal. Wright had strongopinions but he was a willing listener anda charming host.

The next morning we had an oatmealbreakfast eaten on Wright-designed chinawhich sat on Wright-designed place mats.After breakfast we walked down to thegreat drafting room where 30 or moreapprentices were working at their draftingtables, drawing and making models of pro-jects. We reached Mr. Wright’s draftingtable, which was near a large stone fire-place, and there was the top sheet of theplans for my house, labeled “House forLoren Pope, East Falls Church, Virginia.”

He described the drawings to me. Firstthe floor plans and how a person cominginto the living area would see not wallmeeting ceiling but surprisingly, a lacy rib-bon of clerestory windows with cutoutdesigns around the top of the whole space.The walls seemed to be only screens, barelyseparating the inside from the outside. Thehouse was L-shaped with a low brick-pavedentry. Outside, a cantilevered carport float-ed over the driveway. Inside the house onthe right were rooms labeled “sanctum”and “workshop” and, to the left, was a longgallery with bedrooms. Straight ahead anddown five steps soared the open area offireplace, dining, and living areas. Anopen kitchen was off to one side. A line ofFrench doors opened inward, on the right,into an extension of the living room floor.It just flowed out into the grass. The rooffloated over the entire space supported byonly three brick masses.

above / Historic photograph of theliving and dining areas. Courtesy of Woodlawn Plantation.

below left / Living area and library of the Pope-Leighey House. Photo by Steve Reiss.

Floor plan of the Pope-Leighey House. Courtesy of Woodlawn Plantation.

Steven Reiss: How did you first hear about

Frank Lloyd Wright?

Loren Pope: I was working at my first news-paper job for the Washington Evening Star andjust out of college, when my boss suggestedI look up a kindred maverick thinker andarchitect, Frank Lloyd Wright. I did someinitial research and found Wright’sWasmuth papers. The sepia tone of thedrawings did not appeal to me so I didn’tdo any further reading. In January 1938, aTime magazine article again sparked myinterest in Wright and his recently pub-lished An Autobiography. I borrowed thebook from the library, returned it the nextday, bought my own copy and soaked upevery chapter two and three times beforegoing on to the next. Long before the bookwas finished, the light had become daz-zling and I was a true believer. From AnAutobiography on, my bride and I stoppedthinking about the picket-fence Cape Codwe had initially planned to build.

SR: Do you remember the first time you met him?

LP: Later in 1938, Wright was in D.C. to dis-cuss his design of Crystal Heights, a com-plex [never built] which would haveincluded the largest building in theDistrict. He gave a presentation to theAssociation of Federal Architects at theHay-Adams Hotel. I went with my friendEd Rowan, who headed up the New Deal

art program, and our wives. After Wright’sspeech I gathered up the nerve to ask if hemight someday consider creating a housefor me. He replied that he built them onlyfor people like me—“people who deservedthem.” He added that he never built hous-es for real estate men or subdividers, ofwhich I was neither.

SR: How did you get up the nerve to write him a

letter asking him to design your house?

LP: Faith filters out fear (and some error).I was making the grand sum of $50 a weekworking as a copy editor and living aboveWare’s Drugstore in Falls Church, newlymarried. With the encouragement and urg-ing of my friend, Ed, I decided that nomatter how busy or important, the masterwould listen to someone who wanted oneof his works so much. I wrote and rewrotethe letter at least half a dozen times.When I finally dropped it in the mailbox, Ifelt that I had poured out my heart as bestI could and that he would listen to me. Iincluded along with it a map of the site,contours, and trees. It was a letter that noman with a normal ego could ignore.

SR: How did you begin your letter?

LP: “Dear Mr. Wright, There are certainthings a man wants during life, and of life.Material things and things of the spirit.The writer has one fervent wish thatincludes both. It is a house created by you.”

SR: And how did Mr. Wright respond?

LP: Every day I would go to the East FallsChurch post office. Finally after threeweeks I received a buff-colored envelopewith a red logo in the corner. Inside was athin and terse reply. “Dear Loren Pope, Ofcourse I’m ready to give you a house.”

SR: Your first meeting with Wright in Taliesin—

can you describe it?

LP: Yes, en route I had an exciting bonus.In Madison, Wisconsin, I had an opportu-nity to see the first Usonian house and themodel for mine. It was built for newspa-perman Herbert Jacobs. When I walked inthe door, the thrill of actually findingmyself in the kind of Wright house that Iwould have gave me goose bumps. The floorwas red concrete with carpets made offlax, the walls were 11-inch-wide cypress

boards and three-inch-wide pine battens.The doors went around the corners withno supports and the dining and livingareas flowed into each other around thebrick fireplace. In the flesh it was all warmand inviting, as a dream house should be.A Wright apprentice picked me up at theJacobs house to take me to Taliesin. WhenI entered the house, the photographs I’dpored over could not prepare me for thevision of beauty I walked into. Ceilinglines soared. Rich, colorful rugs coveredmost of the waxed stone floor. There was afire in the great stone fireplace, Japanesescreens in green and gold and elegantWright-designed furniture. All waswarmed in the glow of concealed lightingand bathed in soft music.

I shook the master’s hand and greetedMrs. Wright. Much of the conversationbefore dinner was about his autobiography.Dinner was served by several of hisapprentices and although I am interestedin food, I have no recollection of themenu. It seems most of the conversationwas about the New Deal. Wright had strongopinions but he was a willing listener anda charming host.

The next morning we had an oatmealbreakfast eaten on Wright-designed chinawhich sat on Wright-designed place mats.After breakfast we walked down to thegreat drafting room where 30 or moreapprentices were working at their draftingtables, drawing and making models of pro-jects. We reached Mr. Wright’s draftingtable, which was near a large stone fire-place, and there was the top sheet of theplans for my house, labeled “House forLoren Pope, East Falls Church, Virginia.”

He described the drawings to me. Firstthe floor plans and how a person cominginto the living area would see not wallmeeting ceiling but surprisingly, a lacy rib-bon of clerestory windows with cutoutdesigns around the top of the whole space.The walls seemed to be only screens, barelyseparating the inside from the outside. Thehouse was L-shaped with a low brick-pavedentry. Outside, a cantilevered carport float-ed over the driveway. Inside the house onthe right were rooms labeled “sanctum”and “workshop” and, to the left, was a longgallery with bedrooms. Straight ahead anddown five steps soared the open area offireplace, dining, and living areas. Anopen kitchen was off to one side. A line ofFrench doors opened inward, on the right,into an extension of the living room floor.It just flowed out into the grass. The rooffloated over the entire space supported byonly three brick masses.

blueprints 76 blueprints

SR: And your reaction to his sketches?

LP: I thought Mr. Wright was a genius ashe described the house to me.

SR: Did he indicate what effect he was trying to

achieve with his design?

LP: Years later he was quoted as saying,“What I was aiming for was the sense of ahappy, cloudless day.”

SR: How did you afford the house?

LP: Every lending agency I went to wasafraid of loaning me money for the house. Infact, the retired diplomat who ran the EastFalls Church Savings and Loan Associationtried to counsel me, “Loren, this house wouldbe a white elephant.” My last resort was theEvening Star, which financed homes for itsemployees. The Star offered to lend me $5,700,to be taken out of my pay at $12 a week.

Around that same time Mr. Wrightcalled to say the house he had shown mewould be too expensive and he would haveto rework it. That meant the workshop hadto come out and the sanctum shrunk.[Note: The initial size of the house, 1,800square feet, was eventually reduced to 1,200.]

SR: Tell me about the apprentice that Mr. Wright

assigned to your house.

LP: Gordon Chadwick was a 26-year oldgraduate architect from Princeton whohad been working with Mr. Wright as anapprentice for two years. Another Usonianhouse was to be built at the same time inBaltimore for Joseph Euchtman and bothjobs were to be handled by Gordon. I wasto provide room and board and give him$25 a week, half of what I was making.The Usonian houses used no stock materi-als, so doors, windows and so on had to bemade on site. Gordon bought a carload ofsecond-grade red tidewater Cyprus fromthe Florida everglades so he could pick outthe knot-free boards of the same shade forthe houses and still save money.

To keep the costs down on the Usonianhouses Wright often had his apprentice actas the general contractor. So Gordon alsohad to get separate contracts for the concretework, and masonry, the plumbing and elec-trical work and of course the carpentry.

SR: And who was the house’s carpenter?

LP: Howard Rickert from Vienna, Virginia,was the master carpenter who built ourhouse. He was one of the few men whounderstood what it was all about. After onecareful study of the blueprints, he becameenthusiastic saying, “This house is logical.”

SR: Describe the house.

LP: It is a big small house for a small fami-ly. It is L-shaped, one-story on two levelsbecause the lot slopes, with a living roomeleven-and-a-half feet high, with a red-col-ored concrete floor, which also is a radiantheater by virtue of the hot water pipesunderneath. The house has brick support-ing piers and cypress walls.

For light, ventilation, and decoration,the house has a patterned ribbon ofclerestory windows between the top of thewall and the ceiling. You can sit by thefireplace at night and see the stars. Thereis no paint or plaster, and no masking ofany material. The finish, both outside andin, is clear wax, a treatment that comple-ments the beauties of brick and wood. Thehouse gives you a sense of protection, butnever of being closed in, and of leadingyou on beyond where your eyes can see.The honest use of materials satisfies theurge you feel when you think you wouldlike to have a log cabin or a rustic hide-outin the mountains. Altogether, it is a soft,warm symphony of charm.

SR: How did the neighbors react to the house

as it was being built?

LP: With curiosity. People would just walkonto the property and watch the construc-tion. Architects would come by and try topick up any sets of drawings lying around.

SR: How much did the house cost?

LP: About $7,000, including Wright’s fees.[Note: Wright’s standard fee was 10 percentof the construction cost.] What we got wasan extraordinary house for an ordinaryprice. And what’s more, our house camecompletely furnished: carpets, furniture,stove and so forth, all for just about thecost of an ordinary one.

SR: What type of contact did you have with Wright

during construction? Did he visit the house?

LP: He visited the house several times.During one trip he said that the house wascosting me too much and he never askedfor the remainder of his fee. He felt it wasone of his best Usonian houses and actual-ly wanted to name the house “Touchstone.”

SR: What was it like living in the house?

LP: The house gave us pleasure day andnight. Each morning, the big window thattook up most of the outside bedroom wallenabled us to enjoy the lawn and the mag-nificent tulip poplar outside the livingroom and the woods beyond. The sunwould shine through the leaves and theclerestories created dancing patterns oflight and shadow as it moved across thewalls. Even on a cloudy day the housenever looked cold or drab, it was so open,the wood and brick so warm and rich. Justbeing there simply made us feel fulfilledand happy and proud, day after day. To us,it had a presence and a character.

Dinner became a relaxing time toenjoy with my little family. Then when itgot dark we could sit by the fireplace andsee the stars, or have coffee outside andenjoy our dramatic Japanese lantern. Thewhole effect was a lift for our souls.

SR: There are numerous stories about

Mr. Wright’s “control” of his projects. Did you

experience this with your house?

LP: People often asked if Mr. Wright dictat-ed matters of decor, what kind of disheswe should use or whether we should followa certain lifestyle. He did not, usually. Butthere was a case with a magnolia tree I’dplanted in front of the carport. Soon itgrew above roof level. I was bringing himout to the house. The instant I turned ontoour road he spotted the offending magno-lia and exclaimed, “What are you trying todo Loren, ruin this place?” So the next dayI cut it down.

Another time, I had placed four orfive rows of the brick patio outside the din-ing area, using a 30-inch mason’s level. Itwas not the most professional of jobs. Helooked it over and said, “Loren, use astring.” So I tore out what I had done and

used a string. The next time he came, heapproved, especially the square opening I’dmade at the outside corner for an azalea.

SR: Why did you move after only six years?

LP: When we sold the house in 1946 tomove to a 365-acre farm in Loudon County,our plan was to build a larger Wrighthouse. Mr. Wright came out and picked outthe site (of course the most difficult onwhich to build), but we had cut our tieswith the city (and its paychecks) and aWright house on a farming and free-lancewriting income became academic. Yearslater in 1959 when I did have a steady pay-check, I discussed another design for ahouse with Mr. Wright who was staying inNew York working on the GuggenheimMuseum; but Wright simply didn’t livelong enough for us to get our wish.

For many years I’ve been away fromthe house more than I’ve been there, butspiritually I’ve never left the house. Livingin the house has affected my whole life. •

above / Under-floor heating pipes dur-ing construction. Courtesy of Woodlawn Plantation.

below / Historic photograph of theexterior. Courtesy of Woodlawn Plantation.

above / Pope-Leighey House at dusk. Courtesy of Woodlawn Plantation.

Loren Pope is completing a book

on the Pope-Leighey house

which he hopes to publish later

this year. Mr. Pope has also

recently completed an updated

edition of his best-selling book,

Colleges That Change Lives:

40 Schools You Should

Know About Even If You’re

Not a Straight-A Student.

A companion publication,

Looking Beyond the Ivy

League: Finding the College

That’s Right for You, has also

been published by Mr. Pope.

SR: And your reaction to his sketches?

LP: I thought Mr. Wright was a genius ashe described the house to me.

SR: Did he indicate what effect he was trying to

achieve with his design?

LP: Years later he was quoted as saying,“What I was aiming for was the sense of ahappy, cloudless day.”

SR: How did you afford the house?

LP: Every lending agency I went to wasafraid of loaning me money for the house. Infact, the retired diplomat who ran the EastFalls Church Savings and Loan Associationtried to counsel me, “Loren, this house wouldbe a white elephant.” My last resort was theEvening Star, which financed homes for itsemployees. The Star offered to lend me $5,700,to be taken out of my pay at $12 a week.

Around that same time Mr. Wrightcalled to say the house he had shown mewould be too expensive and he would haveto rework it. That meant the workshop hadto come out and the sanctum shrunk.[Note: The initial size of the house, 1,800square feet, was eventually reduced to 1,200.]

SR: Tell me about the apprentice that Mr. Wright

assigned to your house.

LP: Gordon Chadwick was a 26-year oldgraduate architect from Princeton whohad been working with Mr. Wright as anapprentice for two years. Another Usonianhouse was to be built at the same time inBaltimore for Joseph Euchtman and bothjobs were to be handled by Gordon. I wasto provide room and board and give him$25 a week, half of what I was making.The Usonian houses used no stock materi-als, so doors, windows and so on had to bemade on site. Gordon bought a carload ofsecond-grade red tidewater Cyprus fromthe Florida everglades so he could pick outthe knot-free boards of the same shade forthe houses and still save money.

To keep the costs down on the Usonianhouses Wright often had his apprentice actas the general contractor. So Gordon alsohad to get separate contracts for the concretework, and masonry, the plumbing and elec-trical work and of course the carpentry.

SR: And who was the house’s carpenter?

LP: Howard Rickert from Vienna, Virginia,was the master carpenter who built ourhouse. He was one of the few men whounderstood what it was all about. After onecareful study of the blueprints, he becameenthusiastic saying, “This house is logical.”

SR: Describe the house.

LP: It is a big small house for a small fami-ly. It is L-shaped, one-story on two levelsbecause the lot slopes, with a living roomeleven-and-a-half feet high, with a red-col-ored concrete floor, which also is a radiantheater by virtue of the hot water pipesunderneath. The house has brick support-ing piers and cypress walls.

For light, ventilation, and decoration,the house has a patterned ribbon ofclerestory windows between the top of thewall and the ceiling. You can sit by thefireplace at night and see the stars. Thereis no paint or plaster, and no masking ofany material. The finish, both outside andin, is clear wax, a treatment that comple-ments the beauties of brick and wood. Thehouse gives you a sense of protection, butnever of being closed in, and of leadingyou on beyond where your eyes can see.The honest use of materials satisfies theurge you feel when you think you wouldlike to have a log cabin or a rustic hide-outin the mountains. Altogether, it is a soft,warm symphony of charm.

SR: How did the neighbors react to the house

as it was being built?

LP: With curiosity. People would just walkonto the property and watch the construc-tion. Architects would come by and try topick up any sets of drawings lying around.

SR: How much did the house cost?

LP: About $7,000, including Wright’s fees.[Note: Wright’s standard fee was 10 percentof the construction cost.] What we got wasan extraordinary house for an ordinaryprice. And what’s more, our house camecompletely furnished: carpets, furniture,stove and so forth, all for just about thecost of an ordinary one.

SR: What type of contact did you have with Wright

during construction? Did he visit the house?

LP: He visited the house several times.During one trip he said that the house wascosting me too much and he never askedfor the remainder of his fee. He felt it wasone of his best Usonian houses and actual-ly wanted to name the house “Touchstone.”

SR: What was it like living in the house?

LP: The house gave us pleasure day andnight. Each morning, the big window thattook up most of the outside bedroom wallenabled us to enjoy the lawn and the mag-nificent tulip poplar outside the livingroom and the woods beyond. The sunwould shine through the leaves and theclerestories created dancing patterns oflight and shadow as it moved across thewalls. Even on a cloudy day the housenever looked cold or drab, it was so open,the wood and brick so warm and rich. Justbeing there simply made us feel fulfilledand happy and proud, day after day. To us,it had a presence and a character.

Dinner became a relaxing time toenjoy with my little family. Then when itgot dark we could sit by the fireplace andsee the stars, or have coffee outside andenjoy our dramatic Japanese lantern. Thewhole effect was a lift for our souls.

SR: There are numerous stories about

Mr. Wright’s “control” of his projects. Did you

experience this with your house?

LP: People often asked if Mr. Wright dictat-ed matters of decor, what kind of disheswe should use or whether we should followa certain lifestyle. He did not, usually. Butthere was a case with a magnolia tree I’dplanted in front of the carport. Soon itgrew above roof level. I was bringing himout to the house. The instant I turned ontoour road he spotted the offending magno-lia and exclaimed, “What are you trying todo Loren, ruin this place?” So the next dayI cut it down.

Another time, I had placed four orfive rows of the brick patio outside the din-ing area, using a 30-inch mason’s level. Itwas not the most professional of jobs. Helooked it over and said, “Loren, use astring.” So I tore out what I had done and

used a string. The next time he came, heapproved, especially the square opening I’dmade at the outside corner for an azalea.

SR: Why did you move after only six years?

LP: When we sold the house in 1946 tomove to a 365-acre farm in Loudon County,our plan was to build a larger Wrighthouse. Mr. Wright came out and picked outthe site (of course the most difficult onwhich to build), but we had cut our tieswith the city (and its paychecks) and aWright house on a farming and free-lancewriting income became academic. Yearslater in 1959 when I did have a steady pay-check, I discussed another design for ahouse with Mr. Wright who was staying inNew York working on the GuggenheimMuseum; but Wright simply didn’t livelong enough for us to get our wish.

For many years I’ve been away fromthe house more than I’ve been there, butspiritually I’ve never left the house. Livingin the house has affected my whole life. •

above / Under-floor heating pipes dur-ing construction. Courtesy of Woodlawn Plantation.

below / Historic photograph of theexterior. Courtesy of Woodlawn Plantation.

above / Pope-Leighey House at dusk. Courtesy of Woodlawn Plantation.

Loren Pope is completing a book

on the Pope-Leighey house

which he hopes to publish later

this year. Mr. Pope has also

recently completed an updated

edition of his best-selling book,

Colleges That Change Lives:

40 Schools You Should

Know About Even If You’re

Not a Straight-A Student.

A companion publication,

Looking Beyond the Ivy

League: Finding the College

That’s Right for You, has also

been published by Mr. Pope.

FEATU R E NO ORDINARY CLIENTS: THE STORY OF LUIS AND ETHEL MARDEN

above / Exterior view, with PotomacRiver at right. Photo by Robert C. Lautman, courtesy ofLautman Photography.

top / Main floor plan. Courtesy of Richard Williams Architects.

above / Frank Lloyd Wright examiningjoints in the concrete block at theMarden House. Courtesy of the Estate of Mr. & Mrs. LuisMarden.

prejudices of the era), so he chose “Luis,” as avariation on the nickname “Louis,” which healready used, and then picked the surname“Marden” at random out of a telephone book.

Luis moved to Washington in 1934,when he was only 21 years old, to accept ajob with National Geographic. Despite hisyouth, he almost immediately had a pro-found influence on the character and repu-tation of the magazine, thanks to his intro-duction of the use of lightweight, 35mmcameras and Kodachrome film, which pro-vided richer color than the film the maga-zine had used previously. Later, his manynotable achievements in various areasbrought added luster to the magazine.While exploring with Jacques-Yves Cousteau(who became a life-long friend of theMardens), Luis developed innovative tech-niques for underwater photography, andthus introduced the magazine’s readers toimages of a heretofore unknown submarineworld. He even had the distinction of hav-ing both a species of orchid (Epistephium mar-denii, which he discovered while on assign-ment in Brazil) and a sea flea (a parasitethat lives on lobsters) named after him.

The biography of Luis’s wife, Ethel,who now lives in an assisted-care facilityin Arlington, Virginia, is equally remark-able. Born in Texas, she studied both math-ematics and English, and as a youngwoman moved to Washington, where shegot a job with the Federal CommunicationsCommission. She was considering pursuinga doctorate in mathematics when she wasoffered the opportunity to join theNational Bureau of Standards to work onthe development of one of the earliest truecomputers. Like her husband, Ethel held apilot’s license. She also loved sports cars,and in her heyday, she could be seen zip-ping around the Washington area in herMG (she later owned an Austin Healey anda Jaguar). In an interview conducted aspart of the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives’Oral History Program in 2001, she said, “Iadmire anybody who has done somethingfor the first time. . . anyone who has been apioneer in something.” It is hardly surpris-ing that she and Luis enjoyed each other’sprofound respect, nor that both would findthemselves drawn to a larger-than-life fig-ure such as Frank Lloyd Wright.

Luis Marden, who died in 2003 at theage of 90, has been called “the epitome ofthe Geographic man.” The epithet alludesnot only to his 64-year career as a writer,photographer, and senior editor withNational Geographic magazine, but also to hisintrepid spirit, his insatiable curiosity, andhis vast knowledge spanning a wide rangeof disciplines.

Born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, toItalian parents, Luis was originally namedAnnibale Luigi Paragallo. As a teenager, hebecame proficient in five languages, learnedEgyptian hieroglyphics, and wrote a bookcalled Color Photography for the Miniature Camera,which may have been the first ever publishedon the topic of 35mm color photography. Hewas soon invited to host a radio programabout photography, a position that led to hisname change—the station owners thoughthis name was too difficult for his audience tounderstand (although one wonders now ifthey simply felt it was too “ethnic” given the

The Story of Luis and Ethel MardenNo Ordinary Clients by Martin Moeller FAMED FOR HIS BRILLIANCE AND ECCENTRICITY,

Frank Lloyd Wright seemed to attractclients who were extraordinary in their

own right. It would be impossible, ofcourse, to state definitively which of hisclients was the most fascinating, but therecan be little doubt that Luis and EthelMarden, of McLean, Virginia, would beprime candidates for that distinction.Anyone lucky enough to have met theMardens could recount numerous tales oftheir improbable exploits: how Luis person-ally discovered the wreck of the infamousH.M.S. Bounty, for instance; or how Ethelset the women’s record for underwater div-ing; or how the two of them fearlessly chal-lenged the academic establishment bydeclaring that the long-accepted account ofChristopher Columbus’s first journey to theNew World was all wrong, and that heactually made his initial landing far awayfrom where most experts believed.

The Mardens married in 1939, just oneday after Luis returned from an extendedtrip to South America, where he had beenworking on a series of articles for the mag-azine. They settled into a new apartment,but soon began to discuss the idea of com-missioning Wright to design a house forthem. In March of 1940, Luis wrote thefirst of several letters of inquiry to Wright,but the architect was enjoying one of thebusiest periods of his career, and eventhough he soon accepted the commission,it was more than ten years before he wasable to begin the design of the Mardens’house, and nearly twenty years before itsconstruction was complete.

When Luis first wrote to the architect,the Mardens did not yet own a piece of landon which to build their dream house, but in1944, while fishing along the banks of thePotomac—it was wartime, and they did nothave enough gasoline ration coupons todrive to a preferred fishing spot along theShenandoah—the couple became entrancedby a site on the Virginia side of the river justabove Little Falls. The next day, they called areal estate agent and learned that a propertyin that area was for sale, and they bought itshortly thereafter.

Finally, in 1952, Wright produced adesign for the Mardens’ house. Because hewas so busy with high-profile projects suchas the Guggenheim Museum in New York,and advancing age made it increasinglydifficult for him to travel, Wright hadworked primarily from topographical mapsof the Mardens’ property (on his sole visitto the site before construction began,Wright had been unable to reach the mainviewpoint because the terrain was toosteep for him to negotiate). When the