Napoleon LeBrun (January 2, 1821 – July 9, 1901) was an American architect. He began his career in Philadelphia designing churches and theatres including St. Augustine’s Church, the Cathedral-Basilica of St. Peter and Paul and the Philadelphia Academy of Music.
Photo: Beyond My Ken
He moved to New York City, established the firm Napoleon LeBrun & Sons and designed multiple additional churches. He became the official architect of the Fire Department of New York and designed 42 firehouses between 1879 and 1895.
He also designed early skyscrapers in New York City such as the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower and the Home Life Building.
Photo: Scientific American
LeBrun and his firm designed numerous churches in New York City including the Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin (1894–1895) on West 46th Street. St Mary’s was the first church in the US to be designed with a concealed steel skeleton, for this reason it was known in its early days as the “Chicago Church”, after the Chicago school of architecture, which was largely responsible for the use of steel skeletons in skyscraper construction.
Photo: Americasroof at English Wikipedia
The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower was a near-perfect copy of the Campanile in Venice’s Piazza San Marco. However, it lost much of its Italianate design in a 1960’s renovation.
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