Benjamin Latrobe
| Benjamin Henry Latrobe | |
|---|---|
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, ca. 1804, portrait by Charles Willson Peale
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| Born |
May 1, 1764 Fulneck Moravian Settlement, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, Kingdom of Great Britain |
| Died | September 3, 1820 (aged 56) New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Nationality | British-American |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Buildings | Hammerwood Park, Ashdown House, East Sussex, Decatur House, Pope Villa, Old West, Dickinson College, Adena Mansion |
| Projects | Construction of the United States Capitol |
Benjamin Henry Boneval Latrobe (May 1, 1764 – September 3, 1820) was a British subject and neoclassical architect. Latrobe was one of the first formally trained, professional architects in the new United States, drawing influences from his travels in Italy, as well as British and French Neoclassical architects such as Claude Nicolas Ledoux. In his thirties, he emigrated to the new United States and designed the United States Capitol, on "Capitol Hill" in Washington, D.C., after which he performed later work on the Old Baltimore Cathedral/The Baltimore Basilica, (later renamed the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary). It is the first Roman Catholic Cathedral constructed in the United States. Latrobe also designed the largest structure in America at the time, the "Merchants' Exchange" in Baltimore. With extensive balconied atriums through the wings and a large central rotunda under a low dome which dominated the city and was completed in 1820 after five years of work and endured into the early 20th century.
Latrobe emigrated to the U.S. in 1796, initially settling in Virginia where he worked on the Virginia State Penitentiary in Richmond. Latrobe then moved to Philadelphia where he established his practice. In 1803, he was hired as Surveyor of the Public Buildings of the United States, and spent much of the next 14 years working on projects in the new national capital of Washington, D.C., (in the newly-laid out Federal capital of the District of Columbia) where he served as the second Architect of the Capitol, and was responsible for the design of the White House porticos. Latrobe spent the later years of his life in New Orleans, Louisiana working on a waterworks project, and died there in 1820 from yellow fever.
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