Latrobe's View

Latrobe's View. Rippon Lodge. , Benjamin Latrobe , Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1764-1820) moved to Virginia from England in 1796. He is best known for his work on the United States Capitol. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson summoned him to Washington to complete the building, a project which preoccupied Latrobe for the rest of his life., Rippon Lodge , In July 1796, Latrobe visited Rippon Lodge before he continued to Mount Vernon, home of the Washingtons. During his stay, Latrobe sketched several buildings at Rippon Lodge. Latrobe was a friendly acquaintance of Thomas Blackburn, corresponding to him regularly, discussing people whom they both knew., During his stay, Latrobe described and drew wasps that lived within Rippon Lodge's walls. Although his notes about wasps were detailed, he did not write much about the people living there., …The house on the left hand must have been built near 100 Years ago, as the oldest people now living do not remember to have heard when and by whom it was built. The family makes use of both houses, neither of them being sufficiently commodious of itself. It seems to have been the intention of Coln. Blackburn to have united them by a large Room between the two… , Benjamin Latrobe’s comments on Rippon Lodge, July 1796., Photos on the marker include the following captions: , Portrait of Benjamin H. Latrobe, ca. 1804, by Charles Willson Peale. Courtesy of the Architect of the Capitol., Detail from Latrobe's sketch, masons or dirt daubers, July 1796. , Courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society., Rippon Lodge Watercolor, Benjamin H. Latrobe. Sketch of Rippon Lodge, the house of Colonel Thomas Blackburn, July 13, 1796. Courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society.