LATROBE, Benjamin Henry

(1764-1820)

   Benjamin Henry Latrobe, born to a prominent family in England, traveled widely and was highly educated, speaking over five languages. After being wounded while fighting in the Prussian army, he returned to London; beginning in 1790 he worked as the Surveyor of Public Offices. The premature death of his wife and the loss of his children's and wife's money to scheming relatives caused Latrobe to move to the United States in 1796. There he set up his architectural practice first in Virginia and then in Philadelphia, where his mother's family originated. In Philadelphia, Latrobe's most important early commission was for construction of the Bank of Pennsylvania, completed in 1801 and demolished in 1870. This building is credited with being the first Greek Revival style structure in the United States.

   In 1803, Latrobe was hired as the Surveyor of Public Buildings of the United States and began to work in Washington, D.C., most notably on the United States Capitol, which he began that same year and modified throughout his life. Although this building assured Latrobe's enduring fame, he went on to complete several other important Neo-Classical buildings in the area, including the monumental Basilica of the National Shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Baltimore, Maryland (1806-1821), which was the first Catholic cathedral in the United States; he also experimented with the Gothic Revival style.