Benjamin Henry Latrobe on PBS: Picking Nits

First of all, many thanks to Lydia Hess for posting a link to the PBS show as a comment to my earlier post on this subject. Here it is again: http://video.pbs.org/video/1386799719/

The video is informative and well worth a look. Still, one can always pick nits.

The host, Paul Goldberger, should have made it clear that the Baltimore Basilica (see image, top left), America's first Roman Catholic cathedral, was recently in a dreadful state of disrepair and nearly lost. That it shows up so beautifully in the PBS documentary is owing to a magnificent preservation project that concluded in 2006.

I was surprised, also, that Goldberger never mentions that Latrobe's son, also named Benjamin Henry, was one of the great American civil engineers of the mid nineteenth century. Latrobe II was chief engineer for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and has left us some structures that are both structually and aesthetically impressive, including the ThomasViaduct (see image above, at right). By all accounts, Latrobe fils was a splendid fellow; the city of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, was named for him.

Those looking for another dose of Latrobe Senior should consider visiting Decatur House on Lafayette Square (across from the White House).