Downtown Architectural Tour added to “TourLeesburg” App

A new Downtown Architectural Tour is available on “TourLeesburg”, the Town’s self-guided walking tour program.

The tour features 24 stops, which highlight nearly three centuries of architectural styles. Sites include the Donaldson Cabin, the Birkby House, the Loudoun County Courthouse, People’s National Bank (now Lightfoot Restaurant), and Harrison Hall (now the Glenfiddich House).

Smartphone users can take the tour through the “TourLeesburg” app or their preferred web browser where they will be guided from site to site. A GeoAlerts feature is available, which will alert users when they are near a site included on the tour. Stops may be visited in any order. The tour can also be enjoyed virtually from the TourLeesburg website.

The tour was developed by Senior Management Analyst Betsy Arnett with architectural guidance from the Historic Preservation team in the Department of Planning and Zoning, including Lauren Murphy, Debi Parry, and Heather Schmidt, and research assistance from Thomas Balch Library staff, including Laura Christiansen and Echo Rue.

“Our goal was to highlight the best examples of each architectural style present in downtown Leesburg,” Arnett said. “One challenge is that buildings change over time, as owners update their buildings to reflect current tastes. A single building may reflect multiple architectural styles. The Norris House on Loudoun Street is a great example. Originally built in the Federal style, later owners added a mix of Victorian and Colonial Revival details, including the projecting bay window over the front door and the pedimented roof dormers.

“Another challenge was creating a walkable tour. There are many excellent examples of the various architectural styles here in Leesburg that were not included simply because they would have made the tour too long or too spread out.”

Many of the sites on the new architectural tour are crosslinked to sites on the other walking tours.

The Town debuted its walking tour app in August 2017 with two historical tours of downtown. Tour Leesburg currently features six tours, with several additional tours under development. The free app is available in the App Store and Google Play.