Benjamin Henry Latrobe

Benjamin Henry Latrobe

Benjamin Henry Boneval Latrobe (May 1, 1764 – September 3, 1820) was a British-born (of French Huguenot ancestry) American neoclassical architect best known for his design of the United States Capitol, along with his work on the Baltimore Basilica, the first Roman Catholic Cathedral in the United States. Latrobe was one of the first formally-trained, professional architects in the United States, drawing influences from his travels in Italy, as well as British and French Neoclassical architects such as Claude Nicolas Ledoux.

Latrobe emigrated to the United States in 1796, initially settling in Virginia where he worked on the State Penitentiary in Richmond. Latrobe then relocated 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 fourteen years working on projects in Washington, D.C. Latrobe spent the later years of his life in New Orleans, working on a waterworks project, and died there in 1820 from yellow fever. He has been called the "Father of American Architecture".