Napoleon LeBrun

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Napoleon Eugene Charles Henry Le Brun (January 2, 1821–July 9, 1901) was an American architect. Le Brun is best known as the architect of several notable Philadelphia churches, including St. Patrick's (1841), the Seventh Presbyterian (1842), the Scot's Presbyterian (1843), the German Catholic church of St. Peter (1843), the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Nativity (1844), and the Cathedral Basilica of SS Peter and Paul on Logan Square. He also designed the Academy of Music on Broad and Locust Streets. He also designed the Schuylkill County Prison in Pennsylvania, a site that later gained historical significance as the site of several hangings of "Molly Maguires," a rebellious secret society that operated in the coal fields during the 1860-1970s. He also designed the first Columbia County Courthouse and the 1854 Montgomery County Courthouse in Pennsylvania. Although both were later extenstively redesigned and expanded, the notable and distinguishing marble facade of the Montgomery County Courthouse remains his outward and identifying creation.

Sometime after 1861, Le Brun relocated his family to New York, where his sons Pierre L. and Michel Moracin would join him in a firm that would become N. Le Brun & Sons, the official architects of the New York City Fire Department in the latter half of the 19th century. N. Le Brun and Sons were also instrumental in designing some of the earliest skyscrapers, including the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower.