Benjamin Henry Latrobe

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Charles Willson Peale, Portrait of Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1804)

Benjamin Henry Boneval Latrobe (May 1, 1764 – September 3, 1820) was a British-born 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.

Associated Sites

Harper's Estate, Oakland, Place D'Armes (renamed Jackson Square), Sedgeley, United States Capitol, United States Navy Hospital and Asylum

Associated Terms

Ancient style, Basin, Canal, Clump, Column/Pillar, Flower Garden, French style, Gate/Gateway, Grove, Ha-Ha/Sunk fence, Landscape Gardening, Lawn, Mall, Obelisk, Parterre, Piazza/Veranda/Porch/Portico, Picturesque, Pleasure ground/Pleasure garden, Quarter, Square, Statue, Temple, Wood/Woods

Associated Texts

Carter II, Edward C., John C. Van Horne, and Charles E. Brownell. Latrobe’s View of America, 1795-1820: Selections from the Watercolors and Sketches. New Haven and London: Yale University Press for the Maryland Historical Society, 1985. view on Zotero

Hamlin, Talbot. Benjamin Henry Latrobe. New York: Oxford University Press, 1955. view on Zotero

Latrobe, Benjamin Henry. Impressions Respecting New Orleans: Diaries and Sketches, 1818-1820. Edited by Samuel Wilson. New York: Columbia University Press, 1951. view on Zotero

———. The Journals of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 1799-1820: From Philadelphia to New Orleans. Edited by Edward C. Carter II, John C. Van Horne, and Lee W. Formwalt. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1980. view on Zotero

———. The Virginia Journals of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 1795-1798. Edited by Edward C. Carter II. 2 vols. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1977. view on Zotero

Citations

Latrobe, Benjamin Henry, 19 July 1796, describing Mount Vernon, plantation of George Washington, Fairfax County, Va. (1977: 1:163)

“The general plan of the building is as at Mr. Man Pages at Mansfield near Fredericsburg, of the old School. . . . The center is an old house to which a good dining room has been added at the North end, and a study &c. &c., at the South. The House is connected with the Kitchen offices by arcades.”

Latrobe, Benjamin Henry, 28 November 1798, describing a prison in Richmond, Va. (CWF)

“The Ground floor contains the Kitchen and Bakehouse and an open Arcade, the use of which is to admit air into the Area of the building from the Westward, the Quarter from which the Summer winds most usually blow.”

Latrobe, Benjamin Henry, 17 March 1807, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, describing the White House, Washington, D.C. (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation)

“My idea is to carry the road below the hill under a Wall about 8 feet high opposite to the center of the president’s house. At this point, I should propose, at a future day to throw an Arch, or Arches over the road in order to procure a private communication between the pleasure ground of the president’s house and the park which reaches to the river, and which will probably be also planted, and perhaps be open to the public.”

Latrobe, Benjamin Henry, 26 March 1805, describing a design for a house in Philadelphia, Pa. (CWF)

“From the kitchen a door leads to the Back stairs, which communicate immediately with the Dining room, and the Lady’s apartment above stairs. At the foot of these stairs is a small room, which can be well adapted to the purpose of a bath, or a store room.”

Associated Images

not dated

Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Green Spring. Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, MD.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Venus Flycatcher. The Virginia State Library, Richmond, VA.

1790s

Benjamin Henry Latrobe, "View of the North Front of Belvidere, Richmond" (late 1790s). Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, MD.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, "Horsdumonde, the House of Colonel Henry Skipwith, Cumberland County, Virginia" (June 14, 1796). Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, MD.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, "View of Mount Vernon to the North" (July 17, 1796). Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, MD.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, "View to the North from the Lawn at Mount Vernon" (1796). Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, MD.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, "View of Mount Vernon looking towards the South West" (1796). Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, MD.
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Benjamin Henry Latrobe, "Sketch of the House of Mr. Francis Eps on the Appomattox" (June 16, 1796). Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, MD.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Sketch plan of serpentine walks at Mount Vernon (July 19, 1796). Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, MD.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, "Sketch of Airy Plain, Estate" (1797). Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, MD.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, "Sketch of Col'l. John Mayo's house at the Hermitage near Richmond, Virginia" (July 10, 1797). Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, MD.
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Benjamin Henry Latrobe, "York River, looking N.W. up to West Point" (1797). Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, MD.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, House Plan With Gardens (c. 1798). Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Garden temple/milkhouse: plan and elevation (1798-99). Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Studies of Trees (1798-99). The Virginia State Library, Richmond, VA.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, "Taste. Anno 1620" (1799). The Virginia State Library, Richmond, VA.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Studies of Trees (1799). The Virginia State Library, Richmond, VA.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Sedgeley (1799). Fairmount Park Commission, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA.

1800s

Benjamin Henry Latrobe, "Principal Story of a Military School," 1800. Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Military academy. North elevation, rendered (1800). Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Chesapeake and Delaware Canal (1803). Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Plan of the grounds of the White House (c. 1807). Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, "View of the East front of the President's House, with the additions of the North & South Porticos" (1807). Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, House, Richmond, Virginia. Site plan and landscaping. Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, United States Capitol (c. 1814-20). Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Plan of the Capitol Ground (1815). Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, "General Plan of a Marine Asylum and Hospital proposed to be built at Washington" (1815-16). Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, "Plan of the West end of the public appropriation in the city of Washington, called the Mall . . ." (1816). Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, "Elevation of the South front of the President's house, copied from the design as proposed to be altered in 1807" (January 1817). Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
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Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Plan of the New Orleans, Louisiana Battleground [detail] (February 20, 1819).
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, "Plan of the public Square in the city of New Orleans, as proposed to be improved . . ." [detail] (March 20, 1819). Department of Public Works, New Orleans, LA.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, General view of the Billiard Room, from the southeast (spring 1968). Photo by Cortlandt V. D. Hubbard. HABS Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, DC