Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1764–1820) was not, strictly speaking, America's first professional architect, although he was the first to demand a 5 percent fee, that recent innovation in English contracting. But he could do what none of his predecessors could: compose buildings imaginatively as space and volume and realize them in superb vaulted masonry. His Bank of Pennsylvania, Catholic cathedral in Baltimore, and U.S. Capitol were unmatched in their technical acumen and formal sophistication. Even greater work might have been in store had he not died suddenly of yellow fever in New Orleans when he was just fifty-six years old. This opened the door for William Strickland, his wayward pupil, whose career represented a natural extension of Latrobe's, aesthetically, professionally, and—alas—financially.

So we learn when we read the recent biographies of Latrobe and Strickland back-to-back. They are very different books: Jean H. Baker's Building America is a brisk narrative of Latrobe's...

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