Latrobe's LSB Museum

Home
United States
New Orleans, LA
Latrobe's LSB Museum

Directions Website

Journey through time by visiting the LSB Museum.

As a National Historic Landmark, the LSB Museum is committed to the preservation of the historical building and foundational documents that underpin the storied legacy of the history of New Orleans.

09/03/2026

Some people leave a mark. B.H. Latrobe left a blueprint. ✍🏼

And whether or not you believe in astrology, Latrobe being a Ta**us tracks. Born May 1, he was exacting, persistent, and devoted to creating beauty with purpose—the architect and engineer in constant conversation.

Latrobe died in New Orleans on September 3, 1820, just weeks after his design for the Louisiana State Bank was adopted. He never walked through the finished building.

On the 206th anniversary of his death, we remember the artist—more than two centuries later, we’re still walking through his vision.

08/10/2026

On this day in 1820, Benjamin Henry Latrobe’s design for 401 Royal was approved.

Commissioned as the Louisiana State Bank, Latrobe designed an innovative interior of brick vaults and a central domed banking room.

Latrobe would never see the building completed. He died in New Orleans just weeks later, on September 3, 1820, and construction continued under Benjamin Fox.

More than two centuries later, his design still stands at 401 Royal Street in the heart of the French Quarter.

HistoricPreservation

08/06/2026

The Legacy of a Master Lives On ✍🏼

Among Benjamin Henry Latrobe’s apprentices, William Strickland would become one of the most influential architects of the nineteenth century. Under Latrobe’s mentorship, Strickland learned that architecture extended beyond aesthetics—it demanded a thoughtful integration of engineering, function, and classical design. Latrobe also championed a new standard of architectural practice, insisting that an architect should oversee every stage of a project, from the initial concept to its ex*****on.

Their professional relationship developed during Latrobe’s Philadelphia years, where Strickland trained in his office as Latrobe was transforming the architectural landscape through commissions such as the Bank of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Waterworks, and, later, the United States Capitol. Working alongside one of America’s first professional architects, Strickland witnessed firsthand how innovation, craftsmanship, and engineering could shape a young nation’s identity.

After Latrobe’s death, Strickland carried his mentor’s vision forward. His design for the Second Bank of the United States helped popularize the Greek Revival movement in American public architecture, ensuring that Latrobe’s influence continued well beyond his lifetime.

07/14/2026

When most people think of Benjamin H. Latrobe, they may picture his grand Neoclassical buildings. But during his time in New Orleans, he also left his mark on one of the city’s most iconic landscapes:

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1.

After observing New Orleans’ waterlogged soil, Latrobe famously described the city as a place of “wet graves,” recognizing that traditional burials weren’t practical here. He designed the 1811 tomb of Governor William C.C. Claiborne’s first wife, Eliza Lewis Claiborne, and is also credited with the monument for Claiborne’s second wife, Clarisse Furalde Claiborne. These elegant neoclassical monuments helped shape the architectural language of New Orleans’ historic cemeteries.

Today, these cemeteries are more than burial grounds—they’re open-air museums of architecture, craftsmanship, and local history. Organizations like Save Our Cemeteries, the New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries, and The Historic New Orleans Collection work to preserve these remarkable spaces so future generations can continue to learn from them.

Sometimes preservation means protecting a building. Other times, it means preserving our legacy, in whatever form it takes.

06/14/2026

🏛️ Federal style in the French Quarter (c. 1800–1840)

Around the turn of the 19th century, New Orleans architecture started shedding some of its heavier Creole detailing for something lighter and more refined—the Federal style. Take Latrobe’s LSB Museum for example, its simple street-facing facade lets the real craftsmanship shine through in the details. Clean geometric ironwork and arched dormers do the talking instead.

By the 1820s-30s, Federal details like these had become hallmarks of the Quarter’s most elegant Creole townhouses.

📍 401-03 Royal Street
✏️ Sketch by L. Vogt

06/04/2026

🏗️ One icon. Multiple architects. Over 200 years of reinvention.

Most people look at the St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans and see a single masterpiece. But its famous steeples rose from centuries of fire, collapse, and reinvention.

In 1819, Benjamin Henry Latrobe—the “father of American architecture” and designer of the U.S. Capitol—added a central clock tower to the cathedral and named it “Victoire” in honor of the Battle of New Orleans. Tragically, Latrobe died of yellow fever in New Orleans just one year later, never seeing his full vision realized.

Decades later, French architect J.N.B. de Pouilly took on a bold reconstruction—but during construction in 1850, the new central tower dramatically collapsed, taking part of the roof and walls with it. Both the architect and the contractor were dismissed. Yet de Pouilly’s iconic three-steeple design survived, and the cathedral was finally blessed in December 1851.

The architects behind the icon:
🏛 Adrien de Pauger – original church, 1724
🏛 Gilberto Guillemard – rebuilt after the Great Fire, 1794
🏛 Benjamin Henry Latrobe – clock tower, 1819
🏛 J.N.B. de Pouilly – the landmark we know today, 1851
🏛 Alexander Sampson – finished what de Pouilly couldn’t
🏛 Louis Benech – post-Katrina garden restoration

Address

New Orleans, LA
70130

Website

http://www.lsbmuseum.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Latrobe's LSB Museum posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Want your museum to be the top-listed museum in New Orleans?