Pulitzer Prize Biography Winner

Benjamin Henry Latrobe

by Talbot Faulkner Hamlin

Summary

Talbot Faulkner Hamlin chronicles the career of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, the British born architect and engineer who shaped early American building. The biography follows his work on the United States Capitol, the Baltimore cathedral, and ambitious waterworks, casting him as the father of the architectural profession in the new nation. It matters for documenting how one immigrant introduced professional standards and Greek Revival design to American cities.

Historical Context & Significance

Hamlin was himself an architect and Columbia professor who wrote the first major full length study of Latrobe.