List of works by Benjamin Henry Latrobe

Last updated

Works by Benjamin Henry Latrobe , a British-born architect, were influenced by Greek Revival styles and those of British architect John Soane. Latrobe emigrated to the United States, living initially in Virginia, then in Philadelphia, before being hired to work on government projects in Washington, D.C. His works most notably included the central portion of the United States Capitol, along with designing the porticoes of the White House. He also designed numerous houses and other buildings.

Contents

Latrobe worked on various engineering projects, as well, including the Philadelphia waterworks, along with projects in New Orleans where he spent the last years of his life. He wrote quite a bit, including extensive notes in his journals, which have since been published, and he translated works by others.

Architecture

Latrobe's many architectural works include:

WorkPlaceYearNotesImage
Hammerwood Park East Grinstead, UK1792 Hammerwood House.jpg
Ashdown House East Sussex, UK1793 Ashdown House - geograph.org.uk - 1691918.jpg
William Pennock House Norfolk, Virginia 1796 [1] [2]
Virginia State Penitentiary Richmond, Virginia 1797–1798 [3] State Penitentiary, Richmond, Va. (16214721004).jpg
Gamble Hill (Col. John Harvie's home)Richmond1798 [4]
Bank of Pennsylvania Philadelphia 1798–1801First major Greek Revival building in the United States. Birch2ndbankpa.jpg
Sedgeley Philadelphia1799–1802Built for William Cramond on the Schuylkill River, but the mansion fell into disrepair after 1836 when it was subdivided. It was demolished in 1857, and the land is now part of Fairmount Park. A tenant's cottage build along with the mansion remains in existence — the cottage is the only remaining building in Philadelphia designed by Latrobe. [5] Sedgeley house.jpg
Sansom's BuildingsPhiladelphia1800–1801with Thomas Carstairs
Edward Shippen Burd HousePhiladelphia1801–1802Located at Chestnut and 9th Street; Architectural characteristics similar to the Admiralty House in London, designed by Samuel Pepys Cockerell. [6]
Nassau Hall Princeton, New Jersey 1802Originally designed by Robert Smith, and for a period in 1783, it hosted the Congress of the Confederation. The building was later redesigned by Latrobe, after a fire destroyed the building, though it was destroyed once again by fire in 1855 and rebuilt by Philadelphia architect John Notman. [7] Nassau-hall-princeton.JPG
Stanhope Hall Princeton, New Jersey 1803The third building of Princeton University's campus and originally home to the library, study halls, and literary societies. Later known as "Geological Hall," in 1915 it was named in honor of Samuel Stanhope Smith, president of the university at the time of its construction. [8] Stanhope Hall2.JPG
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Baltimore 1806–1821First Catholic Cathedral built in the United States BasilicaExterior.jpg
Waln HousePhiladelphia1807–1808
Clifton HouseRichmond, Virginia1808Built for Benjamin James Harris, the house featured squarish-dimensions and a central, multi-story hall with a cupola to provide lighting. [9]
Markoe HousePhiladelphia1808–1811Built for John Markoe, who later sold it and it was used as a boarding house until the 1880s when it was demolished. [10]
Long Branch Millwood, Virginia 1811Built for Robert Carter Burwell [11] Long Branch Plantation.jpg
Portico of Belleview Washington, D.C. 1813
Ashland Lexington, Kentucky 1813Built two wings onto the home. Ashland HC.JPG
BrentwoodWashington, D.C.1817Florida Avenue and 6th St NE; Destroyed by fire in 1917 [12]
Van Ness Mansion Washington, D.C.1813–1818Later demolished [13] Van Ness Mansion, 1893, Walter Paris.png
Christ Church Washington, D.C.1807The building used by the city's first Episcopal parish was designed in the Gothic Revival style. [14] Christ Church - Washington, D.C..jpg
Decatur House Washington, D.C.1818Located on Jackson Place [15] Decatur House DC.JPG
United States Capitol Washington, D.C.Central portion only, including original low dome United States Capitol - west front.jpg
Davidge Hall BaltimoreThe building known today as Davidge Hall, completed in 1812, is part of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. It is the oldest building in the Northern Hemisphere in continuous use for medical education. [16] University of Maryland, Medical Building, Greene & Lombard Streets, Baltimore (Independent City, Maryland).jpg
University of Pennsylvania Medical SchoolPhiladelphiaDesigned in collaboration with his apprentice, William Strickland; Demolished in 1874. [17]
Pope Villa Lexington, Kentucky1811–1812326 Grosvenor Avenue; The house was the first to incorporate an English basement. [18] Pope Villa (Lexington, Kentucky) - DSC09308.JPG
Adena Mansion Chillicothe, Ohio 1806 Adena Mansion.JPG
Taft Museum of Art Cincinnati 1820Originally the home of Martin Baum TaftMuseum.jpg
St. John's Church Washington, D.C.1816 [15] St. John's Episcopal Church.JPG
St. Paul's Church Alexandria, Virginia 1818 [19] [20] SaintPaulsChurchAlexandria.jpg
The White House east and west colonnadesWashington, D.C.Designed in collaboration with Thomas Jefferson, and north and south porticos, with James Hoban [21] WhiteHouseSouthFacade.JPG
Latrobe Gate, Washington Navy Yard Washington, D.C.1806Believed to be the oldest extant example of Greek Revival architecture in the United States. [22] Latrobe Gate, Washington Navy Yard.jpg
West College, or Old West at Dickinson College Carlisle, Pennsylvania 1803 [23] [24] Westcollege1810.jpg
Belvidere Belmont, New York 1804Built in 1804 from plans attributed to Latrobe. [25] Belvidere, South of intersection Camp Road & Gibson Hill Road, Belvidere vicinity (Allegany County, New York).jpg

Writing

Benjamin Henry Latrobe authored several books and translated others, including:

James Bruce hired Latrobe in 1790 to help put together Travels, a memoir of Bruce's journeys in Africa. [27] [28]

After he arrived in the United States, Latrobe befriended Constantin-François Chassebœuf, comte de Volney, who stimulated an interest in geology. Latrobe kept numerous journals with geological notes and published a number of papers, including "Memoir on the Sand Hills of Cape Henry" (1799), Transactions of the American Philosophical Society (vol. 4, pp 439–44). [29]

Notes

  1. ↑ Hamlin 1955 , p. 69
  2. ↑ Fazio 2006 , pp. 210–221
  3. ↑ Hamlin 1955 , pp. 120–126
  4. ↑ Hamlin 1955 , pp. 99–100
  5. ↑ Westcott 1877 , pp. 452–453
  6. ↑ Hamlin 1955 , pp. 150–151
  7. ↑ "Nassau Hall". Princeton University. Retrieved 24 January 2009.
  8. ↑ Leitch, Alexander. "Stanhope Hall". Princeton University.
  9. ↑ Hamlin 1955 , p. 103
  10. ↑ Fazio 2006 , p. 354
  11. ↑ Hamlin 1955 , pp. 111–115
  12. ↑ Goode 1979 , p. 34
  13. ↑ Hamlin 1944 , p. 32
  14. ↑ "Christ Church". National Park Service . Retrieved 9 July 2009.
  15. 1 2 Federal Writers' Project (1937). Washington, City and Capital: Federal Writers' Project. Works Progress Administration / United States Government Printing Office. p. 126.
  16. ↑ "About Davidge Hall". University of Maryland. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2009.
  17. ↑ Hamlin 1955 , p. 16
  18. ↑ Hamlin 1955 , p. 106
  19. ↑ Alexandria, VA - Historic Alexandria - Historic Preservation: Sites on the National Register of Historic Places
  20. ↑ St. Paul's Episcopal Church
  21. ↑ Fazio 2006 , pp. 364–370
  22. ↑ "National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form". National Capital Planning Commission . National Park Service. 30 June 1972. Retrieved 9 July 2009.
  23. ↑ Norton 1951 , pp. 125–132
  24. ↑ "West College - Old West". Dickenson College. Archived from the original on 11 October 2008. Retrieved 12 January 2009.
  25. ↑ Robert Bromeley and Mrs. Patrick W. Harrington (August 1971). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Belvidere". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 14 June 2009.See also: "Unfiled NHL Nomination Form for Villa Belvidere". Archived from the original on 14 August 2012. and "Accompanying five photos". Archived from the original on 14 August 2012.
  26. 1 2 Hamlin 1955 , p. 22
  27. ↑ Leask, Nigel (2002). "Curious Narrative and the Problem of Credit: James Bruce's Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile". Curiosity and the Aesthetics of Travel Writing, 1770-1840 (PDF). Oxford University Press. p. 65.
  28. ↑ Hamlin 1955 , p. 26
  29. ↑ Hamlin 1955 , p. 80

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin Henry Latrobe</span> English architect (1764-1820)

Benjamin Henry Boneval Latrobe was an Anglo-American neoclassical architect who immigrated to the United States. He was one of the first formally trained, professional architects in the new United States, drawing on influences from his travels in Italy, as well as British and French Neoclassical architects such as Claude Nicolas Ledoux. In his thirties, he immigrated to the new United States and designed the United States Capitol, on "Capitol Hill" in Washington, D.C., as well as the Old Baltimore Cathedral or The Baltimore Basilica,. It is the first Cathedral constructed in the United States for any Christian denomination. 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, it was completed in 1820 after five years of work and endured into the early twentieth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greek Revival architecture</span> Architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries

Greek Revival architecture was a style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, as well as in Greece itself following its independence in 1832. It revived many aspects of the forms and styles of ancient Greek architecture, in particular the Greek temple. A product of Hellenism, Greek Revival architecture is looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture, which was drawn from Roman architecture. The term was first used by Charles Robert Cockerell in a lecture he gave as an architecture professor at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 1842.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Pope (Kentucky politician)</span> American politician (1770–1845)

John Pope was a United States Senator from Kentucky, a member of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky, Secretary of State of Kentucky, and the third Governor of Arkansas Territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Mills (architect)</span> American architect

Robert Mills was a South Carolina architect known for designing both the first Washington Monument, located in Baltimore, Maryland, as well as the better known monument to the first president in the nation's capital, Washington, DC. He is sometimes said to be the first native-born American to be professionally trained as an architect. Charles Bulfinch of Boston perhaps has a clearer claim to this honor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Hoban</span> Irish-American architect (1755–1831)

James Hoban was an Irish-American architect, best known for designing the White House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Ustick Walter</span> American architect

Thomas Ustick Walter was the dean of American architecture between the 1820 death of Benjamin Latrobe and the emergence of H.H. Richardson in the 1870s. He was the fourth Architect of the Capitol and responsible for adding the north (Senate) and south (House) wings and the central dome that is predominantly the current appearance of the U.S. Capitol building. Walter was one of the founders and second president of the American Institute of Architects. In 1839, he was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Harvie</span> American Founding Father and politician

John Harvie was an American Founding Father, lawyer and builder from Virginia. He was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, where he signed the Articles of Confederation, in 1777 and 1778. He was a successful lawyer and landowner, as well as the fourth mayor of Richmond, Virginia. Thomas Jefferson was a friend since his childhood; his father was Jefferson's guardian. He negotiated a peace treaty in 1774 after the Battle of Point Pleasant. During the American Revolutionary War, he was on the Board of War and operated a prison of war camp on his property, The Barracks.

Rexford G. Newcomb was an American architectural historian.

George Hadfield was born in Livorno, Italy, of English parents, who were hotel keepers. He studied at the Royal Academy, and worked with James Wyatt for six years before emigrating to the United States. He was the brother of painter, musician, and educator Maria Cosway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old West, Dickinson College</span> United States historic place

Old West was the first building to be erected on the campus of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. It was designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe in 1803, completed in 1822, and is a fine example of Federal period architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Paul's Episcopal Church (Alexandria, Virginia)</span> Historic church in Virginia, United States

St. Paul's Episcopal Church is an historic Episcopal church in the Anglican Communion located in the Old Town area of Alexandria, Virginia. The church, consecrated in 1818, was designed by Benjamin Latrobe, the second architect of the United States Capitol. It is one of the few buildings designed by Latrobe in a Gothic style and one of the earliest examples of Gothic Revival architecture in the United States. The church was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. During the year 2009, St. Paul's Episcopal Church celebrated the bicentennial of its founding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sedgeley</span> Historic house in Pennsylvania, United States

Sedgeley was a mansion, designed by the architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe, and built on the east banks of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, USA, in 1799–1802.

Giambattista Scandella (1770–1798) was an Italian physician and scientist who emigrated to the United States in 1796. Scandella studied medicine at the University of Padua, and then went into medical practice in Venice in 1786. He also conducted agricultural research on fertilizer and other topics.

Events from the year 1796 in the United States.

Events from the year 1797 in the United States.

Events from the year 1798 in the United States.

Events from the year 1802 in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Talbot Hamlin</span> Architect, professor, and librarian

Talbot Faulkner Hamlin was an American architect, architectural historian, writer and educator. Ginling College, Peking University, and the Wayland Academy were among his major work projects, particularly in China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bibliography of Benjamin Franklin</span> List of primary and secondary works by or about Benjamin Franklin

This is a comprehensive list of primary and secondary works by or about Benjamin Franklin, one of the principal Founding Fathers of the United States. Works about Franklin have been consistently published during and after Franklin's life, spanning four centuries, and continue to appear in present-day publications. Scholarly works that are not necessarily subject-specific to Franklin, yet cover his life and efforts in significant measure, may also be included here. In contrast, this bibliography does not include the numerous encyclopedia articles and short essays about Franklin..

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Van Ness Mansion</span>

The Van Ness Mansion was completed for John Peter Van Ness and Marcia Van Ness in 1816 by Benjamin Henry Latrobe on 17th Street, Washington, D.C. They entertained the Madisons, James Monroe, George Washington Parke Custis and John Tayloe III at their mansion. The mansion was described as the "finest house in America". It was built on land that had been owned by Marcia's father, David Burnes, who left 500 acres along the Potomac River to Van Ness. It was one of the most expensive houses in the country, fitted with hot and cold running water, a modern feature at the time, and the mansion was the first residence in the city to have that luxury. Latrobe added a feature designed to maintain a sense of privacy when food was conveyed to dining rooms. Servants accessed rotating servers from a hallway that allowed them to deliver food without entering the room. He installed them previously at the Adena Mansion in Chillicothe, Ohio. It had the country's largest and coolest wine vault. Latrop said that the Van Ness Mansion was "the best house I ever designed". It overlaid his "American rational-configuration on the kind of English residential model that impressed him during his work for and study with S. P. Cockerell."

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.