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Benjamin Henry Latrobe was a man of extraordinary talents - and high standards. One of the first professional architects in the United States, British-born Latrobe made his mark on America with his insistence on function as well as form. Among his most recognizable achievements are the central portion of the U.S. Capitol, the east and west wings of the White House, and Ashland, the home of Henry Clay. Here, in this short-form book by historian Marshall B. Davidson, is Latrobe's remarkable story.
An English émigré who became America's first professional architect, Benjamin Henry Latrobe put his stamp on the built landscape of the new republic. Latrobe contributed to such iconic structures as the south wing of the US Capitol building, the White House, and the Navy Yard. He created some of the early republic's greatest neoclassical interiors, including the Statuary Hall and the Senate, House, and Supreme Court Chambers. As a young man, Latrobe was apprenticed to both a leading architect and civil engineer in London, studied the European continent's architectural and engineering monuments, worked on canals, and designed private houses. After the death of his first wife, he was bankrupt and emigrated to the United States in 1796 to restart his career. For the new nation with grand political expectations, he intended buildings and engineering projects to match those aspirations. Like his patron Thomas Jefferson, Latrobe saw his neoclassical designs as a way to convey American democracy. He envisioned his engineering projects, such as the canals and municipal water systems for Philadelphia and New Orleans, as a way to unite the nation and improve public health. Jean Baker conveys the personality of this charming, driven, and often frustrated genius and the era in which he lived. Latrobe tried to establish architecture as a profession with high standards, established fees, and recognized procedures, though he was unable to collect fees and earn the living his work was worth. Like many of his peers, he speculated and found himself in bankruptcy several times. Building America masterfully narrates the life and legacy of a key figure in creating an American aesthetic in the new United States.
This two-volume set is a comprehensive catalogue of the architectural drawings of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, a key figure in the birth of the architectural profession in the United States. All Latrobe's architectural projects are considered in detail, and each project is illustrated with his surviving drawings. Among the works discussed are the U.S. Capitol, the Bank of Pennsylvania, the Baltimore Cathedral, the Virginia State Penitentiary, the Stephen Decatur house, and numerous other commissions for public and private buildings. The volumes also analyze Latrobe's style of architectural drawing, trace the evolution of his technique, and place his graphic legacy in the contexts of his own architectural work and international currents at the end of the eighteenth century. The Architectural Drawings represents the final publication of the Papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, an editorial project launched more than two decades ago under the direction of editor-in-chief Edward C. Carter II. The series as a whole also includes volumes on Latrobe's correspondence, journals, engineering drawings, and watercolor views of American scenes.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe was best known as the architect of the United States Capitol. His career as surveyor, architect, engineer took him to many places in the US, and in close contact with Thomas Jefferson. Also known for designing the Richmond Penitentiary, the Bank of Pennsylvania and the Baltimore Cathedral, as well as the historical study and annotation of the Susquehanna River Survey Map. Latrobe played a major role in the creation of the American technological community, publishing many scientific papers, technical reports, newspaper and journal articles and essays. Latrobe moved from Richmond to Philadelphia in late 1798 to execute his first great commission, the Bank of Pennsylvania. He sporadically wrote in the journals printed in this volume while in such cities as Philadelphia, New Castle, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., where he served as architect of the U.S. Capitol. He kept journals more regularly while in New Orleans during the last year of his life - he died in 1820. In addition to recording daily events, Latrobe made observations on a wide variety of topics, from the origins of yellow fever to slavery and black music in New Orleans. His pen-and-ink drawings and watercolors compliment the text.