America’s first professional architect and engineer – he immigrated to America in 1795.  After designing Philadelphia’s first water system, Latrobe went on to design or consult on more than 60 private homes in America, as well as dozens of public buildings.  Only three Latrobe designed, preserved,  residential homes remain in the entire country.    He was the architect commissioned to repair the White House after the British burned it.   Appointed architect of the Capitol building by Thomas Jefferson,  he  designed the south wing as well as rebuilt the interior of the north wing after the British burned the structure in 1814.  He designed the first Roman Catholic cathedral, a Baltimore landmark now considered his masterpiece, the Basilica of the Assumption.  He designed all of the monuments in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C.., as well as the Decatur House in Washington, D.C., the Pope House in Springfield, KY, and “Adena” in Chillicothe, OH. The city of Latrobe, Pennsylvania was named after him. Need and opportunity would lure Latrobe to New Orleans, where in the midst of his work, he would die in a yellow fever epidemic.  His remains were simply picked up from his hotel by the “dead wagon” and taken to a common lye pit for burial.   His influence survived him through his work and  he is credited with introducing the Gothic and Greek revival styles of architecture to the country.  (bio by: Paul S.)  Family links:  Parents:  Benjamin Latrobe  Anna Margaretta Antes Latrobe (1726 – 1794)  Spouses:  Mary Elizabeth Hazlehurst Latrobe (1771 – 1841)*  Lydia Sellon Latrobe (1760 – 1793)*  Children:  Lydia Sellon Latrobe Roosevelt (1791 – 1878)*  Henry Sellon Boneval Latrobe (1792 – 1817)*  Juliana Latrobe (1801 – 1801)*  John Hazlehurst Boneval Latrobe (1803 – 1891)*  Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1806 – 1878)* *Calculated relationship