Napoleon Le Brun was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, of French ancestry, the son of Charles and Adelaide Le Brun. His father, who first came to the United States on a secret diplomatic mission while Jefferson was president, returned some years later to settle permanently.
Napoleon early showed an aptitude for art and engineering and it was decided to educate him as an architect. Accordingly, he was sent in 1836 to study under Thomas U. Walter, who in the fifties was architect of the Capitol extension. Walter had been the pupil of William Strick-land, in his day the leading architect of Philadelphia, who, in turn, had been the disciple of Benjamin H. Latrobe, who came from England in 1796 and became the architect of the Capitol by appointment of Jefferson in 1803.
In 1841 Le Brun began to practise for himself in Philadelphia, where he remained until he removed to New York City in 1864. He formed the firm of N. Le Brun & Sons in the early eighties. Le Brun was elected a fellow of the American Institute of Architects and president of the New York Chapter. He was also president of the Willard Architectural Commission.
Among his notable contributions to the architecture of Philadelphia were the Seventh or Tabernacle Presbyterian Church on Broad Street, the Academy of Music, the Girard Estate Building, several county structures, and the interior of the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul. The latter is noteworthy as his only application of the Renaissance style to church work. In the Romanesque style he designed the Church of the Epiphany, Second Avenue near Twenty-first Street, New York City, modeled after the church of San Zeno in Verona. The Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin, in West Forty-sixth Street, New York, is an example, not wholly successful, of his work in French Gothic. When it was built, in 1895, it was called the "Chicago Church" because it was an early specimen of steel construction.
A much better example of Le Brun's Gothic work was the earlier Church of St. John Baptist (1872), in West Thirtieth Street. The firm of N. Le Brun & Sons designed for the fire department of New York City the headquarters in East Sixty-seventh Street, an example of Romanesque, and the engine house in Old Slip near the foot of Wall Street, an imitation of the old Dutch Renaissance, particularly appropriate to a building within the boundaries of the Dutch town of New Amsterdam. Other engine houses by this firm were those in Eighteenth Street near Broadway and at White and Lafayette Streets, the latter in the French château style.
The Home Life Insurance Building on Broadway and the San Francisco office of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company are examples of office buildings by the firm, but its most conspicuous success was the home office building and the tower of the Metropolitan Life at Madison Square, New York (1889 - 1909). The main edifice constituted one of the early experiments in tall buildings and one of the early uses of the "column" for skyscraper construction; the tower and addition, designed after the elder Le Brun's death, received the award of the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects "for the most meritorious work of 1909" in solving "one of the most difficult problems now presented to American architects. "
Le Brun was the founder of the firm Napoleon Le Brun & Sons. The firm designed over 40 buildings, including fire houses, a fire pier and a warehouse. It was also instrumental in designing some of the earliest skyscrapers, including the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower. Le Brun was also known for several notable Philadelphia churches, in particular St. Augustine's Church on Fourth Street and the Cathedral-Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul on Logan Square.
Fellow of the American Institute of Architects
On December 20, 1845, Le Brun married Adèle Louise Lajus, youngest daughter of Paul Lajus, a merchant of Philadelphia. They had three sons and two daughters. The eldest and youngest sons followed their father's career.
