Benjamin Henry Latrobe

by Talbot Faulkner Hamlin

The award-winning biography of the British-born American architect who designed the United States Capitol and the Baltimore Basilica.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

633 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1955

About the author

An architect and historian of architecture, sometimes credited as Talbot Hamlin or Talbot F. Hamlin, he served as Avery Architecture Librarian from 1934 until 1945 at Columbia University, where he created the Avery Architectural Index. From 1946 until his death in Beaufort, SC, he was a full professor of architecture at the Columbia School of Architecture, which was also his alma mater (having previously received a B.A. in Classics and English from Amherst College); his father, A. D. F. Hamlin, had also been a professor there.

In 1956, Hamlin was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his biography of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, the British-born American architect who designed the United States Capitol and the Baltimore Basilica.

Reviews

[Jane Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great source about an important architect and artist who helped build Washington DC. Part of my bibliography for for my upcoming book about the burning of the White House and U.S. Capitol.

[George King · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very frustrating that he never seemed to get he credit or the money that was his due