Benjamin Henry Latrobe: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:07, 15 March 2007

Revision as of 00:07, 15 March 2007

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Benjamin Henry Latrobe was born in [[England]] at the [[Fulneck Moravian Settlement]], near [[Pudsey]] in [[West Yorkshire]], to [[Reverend]] Benjamin Latrobe and Ann Margaret Nutis.<ref name="journal-pVII">{{cite book |title=The Journal of Latrobe |author=Latrobe, Benjamin Henry |publisher=D. Appleton & Company |year=1905 |pages=p.VII}}</ref> His mother was born in [[Pennsylvania]], where her father (Henry Antes) was a wealthy landwoner who had interest in [[Moravians (religion)|Morovian]] missionaries.<ref name="hamlin-p6">{{cite book |title=Benjamin Henry Latrobe |author=Hamlin, Talbot |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1955 |pages=p. 6}}</ref> Margaret was sent to England, where she attended school at Fulneck.<ref>{{cite book |title=Benjamin Henry Latrobe |author=Hamlin, Talbot |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1955 |pages=p. 7}}</ref> Latrobe's father was responsible for all Morovian schools and establishments in Britain, and had an extensive circle of friends in the higher ranks of society.<ref name="hamlin-p6"/>

In 1776, at the age of 11, heLatrobe was sent away to the Moravian School, a [[seminary]], at Niesky in [[Silesia]] on the borders of [[Saxony]] and [[Poland]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Benjamin Henry Latrobe & the Development of Internal Improvements in the New Republic, 1796-1820 |author=Formwalt, Lee W |year=1981 |publisher=ِAyer Publishing}}</ref> In 1785, at age 18, Latrobe spent several months traveling in [[Germany]], and then he joined the [[Prussia]]n army.<ref name="journal-pX">{{cite book |title=The Journal of Latrobe |author=Latrobe, Benjamin Henry |publisher=D. Appleton & Company |year=1905 |pages=p.X}}</ref> While serving in the army, he became close friends with a distinguished officer in the army of the United States.<ref name="journal-pX"/> Latrobe was severely injured while serving in the army, and thereafter he left the army.<ref name="journal-pX"/>

After recovering from his injuries, he embarked on a continental [[Grand Tour]]. When he returned to England, he entered apprenticeship to [[John Smeaton]] the engineer (of [[Eddystone Lighthouse]] fame). Then in 1787 (or 1788), he entered apprenticeship with the eminent architect [[Samuel Pepys Cockerell|S.P. Cockerell]] where he served for a brief time before leaving to practice the profession.<ref name="journal-pXI">{{cite book |title=The Journal of Latrobe |author=Latrobe, Benjamin Henry |publisher=D. Appleton & Company |year=1905 |pages=p. XI}}</ref> Latrobe was hired as Surveyor of the Public Offices, in London, in 1790.<ref name="journal-pXI"/> In the early 1790s, he also worked in private practice. Latrobe was commissioned to design [[Hammerwood Park]], near [[East Grinstead]] in [[Sussex]], which was his first independent work in 1792.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hammerwood.mistral.co.uk/latrobe.htm |title=Benjamin Henry Latrobe |publisher=Hammerwood Park}}</ref> In 1793, he also designed Ashdown House which was built nearby.<ref name="colvin">{{cite book |title=A Biographical Dictionary of English Architects, 1660-1840 |author=Colvin, H. M. Colvin |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1954 |pages=p. 357}}</ref>