English-born Benjamin Henry Latrobe, one of the first professional architects to practice in the United States, was a brilliant designer and engineer.

Thomas Jefferson convinced Latrobe to accept a position of Surveyor of Public Buildings in 1803. He became Architect of the Capitol in 1815 and was responsible for the Capitol's rebuilding after it was destroyed in the War of 1812.

Benjamin H. Latrobe, ca. 1804 by Charles Willson Peale.