Julian Francis Abele (April 30, 1881April 23, 1950) was a prominent black American

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

, and chief designer in the offices of

Horace Trumbauer Horace Trumbauer (December 28, 1868 – September 18, 1938) was a prominent American architect of the Gilded Age, known for designing residential manors for the wealthy. Later in his career he also designed hotels, office buildings, and much of t ...

. He contributed to the design of more than 400 buildings, including the Widener Memorial Library at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

(1912–15),

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

's Central Library (1917–27), the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...

(1914–28), and Eisenlohr Hall, home of the presidents of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. Abele was the primary designer of the west campus of

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

(1924–54). His contributions to the Trumbauer firm were great, but the only building for which Abele claimed authorship during Trumbauer's lifetime was Duke Memorial Chapel (1930-35). Following Trumbauer's 1938 death, Abele co-headed the architectural firm and designed additional buildings at Duke, including Allen Administrative Building and

Cameron Indoor Stadium Cameron Indoor Stadium is an indoor arena located on the campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. The 9,314-seat facility is the primary indoor athletic venue for the Duke Blue Devils and serves as the home court for Duke Duke Blue ...

Background

Abele was born in

to a prominent family. His maternal grandfather was Robert Jones, who in the late 18th century founded the city's Lombard Street Central Presbyterian Church. He was also related to Absalom Jones, who established the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas in 1794, the first Black church in Philadelphia. Abele's son, Julian Francis Abele, Jr. was an architectural engineer and his nephew, Julian Abele Cook, worked as the Building Coordinator for Howard University. Abele worked in many media: watercolor, lithography, etching and pencil, wood, iron, gold and silver. He designed and constructed all of his own furniture, even doing the petit point himself. While he knew many historic styles, he seemed to love Louis XIV French most of all.

Education

Abele attended the

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

-run Institute for Colored Youth, which later became Cheyney University, where he excelled in mathematics and was chosen to deliver the commencement address.Webster, Josephine Faulkner. "Julian Francis Abele (1881-1950)." In Wilson, Dreck Spurlock (ed.), ''African-American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary, 1865-1945'', 2004, pp. 1–3. Taylor & Francis. In 1898, he completed a two-year architectural drawing course at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art (PMSIA, now University of the Arts). He was the first Black student admitted to the Department of Architecture at the

. This achievement was all the more noteworthy for the restrictions Black people faced at the university, including not being able to live in dormitories or dine in the school's cafeteria. On projects assigned to pairs of students, he partnered with Louis Magaziner, the only Jewish student in the department, who also faced discrimination. This was the beginning of a lifelong friendship between the two. He won a 1901 student competition to design a Beaux Arts pedestrian gateway. His submission was in the form of an

exedra An exedra (: exedras or exedrae) is a semicircular architecture, architectural recess or platform, sometimes crowned by a semi-dome, and either set into a building's façade or free-standing. The original Greek word ''ἐξέδρα'' ('a seat ou ...

– a curved bench flanked by piers, but with steps passing through its center. This became his first commission when it was built on the campus of

Haverford College Haverford College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Fr ...

. The Edward B. Conklin Memorial Gate stands at the Railroad Avenue entrance to the college. He was widely respected among his peers, earning the nickname "Willing and Able", and also won student awards for his designs for a post office and a museum of botany, and he was elected as the president of the university's Architectural Society. He became the University of Pennsylvania architecture department's first Black graduate in 1902. He worked part-time for a local architect and attend evening classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Under the financial sponsorship of Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer, he traveled through France and Italy, an experience that was to influence his design work throughout his life.

École des Beaux-Arts

Between 1903 and his hiring by

in 1906, Abele traveled throughout Europe. His descendants contend that he studied at the

École des Beaux-Arts ; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centu ...

in Paris during his stay. But Sandra L. Tatman, co-author of ''The Biographical Dictionary of Philadelphia Architects, 1700-1930'', could find no record of his having been enrolled at the École. She allows that he may have been permitted to informally sit in on the school's

atelier An atelier () is the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in the fine or decorative arts or an architect, where a principal master and a number of assistants, students, and apprentices can work together producing fine art or vi ...

. She also notes that Abele listed travel to France, Italy, England, Germany, Switzerland, and Spain on his membership application to the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach progr ...

(AIA), but not study at the École des Beaux-Arts.

Career

Americana 1920 Libraries - Philadelphia Public Free Library

Immediately after his graduation from the

in 1902, Abele traveled west to

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

, where he designed a house for his sister, Elizabeth Abele Cook, before returning east. In 1906, Abele joined the Trumbauer firm as assistant to chief designer Frank Seeburger. When Seeburger left the firm in 1909, Abele advanced to chief designer. Abele's stature within the firm was no secret; he was the second-highest paid employee. He was an architect. Art historian David B. Brownlee studied the 14-year effort to design and build the

, 1914-28. He credits Trumbauer architect Howell Lewis Shay with the building's plan and massing, but notes that the final perspective drawings are in Abele's distinctive hand. Brownlee credits design of the exterior terracing, including the front steps celebrated in the 1976 film ''

Rocky ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American independent film, independent sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the Rocky (film series), ''Rocky'' franchise and also star ...

'', to Abele. Abele was also the architect for Eisenlohr Hall, which functions as the official home of the president of the University of Pennsylvania on the Penn campus. Following Trumbauer's death in 1938, the firm continued until 1950 under the name "Office of Horace Trumbauer," co-headed by Abele and William O. Frank. Commissions were hard to come by during

The Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, but the firm completed Duke Indoor Stadium at

in 1940, and later made additions to Duke's Library (1948) and designed Duke's Allen Administrative Building (1954). When Abele joined the

in 1942, Philadelphia Museum of Art director

Fiske Kimball Sidney Fiske Kimball (1888 – 1955) was an American architect, architectural historian and museum director. A pioneer in the field of architectural preservation in the United States, he played a leading part in the restoration of Montice ...

called him "one of the most sensitive designers in America". ''

Smithsonian Magazine ''Smithsonian'' is a magazine covering science, history, art, popular culture and innovation. The first issue was published in 1970. History The history of ''Smithsonian'' began when Edward K. Thompson, the retired editor of ''Life'' magazine ...

'' described him, in a career retrospective, as "probably the most accomplished lack architectof his era." Despite being the primary designer of Duke University, Abele was refused accommodations at a Durham hotel during a visit to campus.Henry Magaziner, son of Abele's U. of P. classmate and friend Louis Magaziner, in a 1989 interview. Quoted in Susan E. Tifft, "Out of the Shadows," ''Smithsonian Magazine'', February 2005. Although it was not until 1988 that a portrait of him was displayed at the University, the main quad at Duke University is now officially name
Abele Quad
with a dedication plaque prominently placed at the busiest spot on campus.

Personal life

In 1925, at the age of 44, he married Marguerite Bulle, a French pianist 20 years his junior. They had three children: Julian Abele, Jr., Marguerite Marie Abele (died young), and Nadia Boulanger Abele. Marguerite left him in 1936, to become the common-law wife of opera singer Jozef Kowalewski, with whom she had three additional children. Because Abele never took action to divorce his wife, his children and Kowalewski's children shared equally in his estate.Cf. Tifft 2005 Abele died from a heart attack in 1950, in Philadelphia and is interred at Eden Cemetery in Collingdale, Pennsylvania.

Legacy

*The Allen Administration Building at Duke University, which he designed, was completed after his death in 1950. *In 1988, Duke University honored Abele with his portrait that is displayed in the main lobby of the Allen Building. It was the first portrait of an African-American to be displayed on the campus. To prominently acknowledge his contribution to Duke University's West Campus, the main quad at Duke is now officially named Abele Quad with a dedication plaque prominently placed at the very center of west campus. *On August 17, 2012, construction began on Julian Abele Park, at 22nd & Carpenter Streets in Philadelphia. *Architectural historia
Dreck Spurlock Wilson
is preparing the first biography of Abele.

Gallery

File:Abele T-Square Club Catalogue 1915 p.14.jpg, ''Gothic House, Tours, France'' (1915), sketch by Abele File:Philadelphia-stairs.jpg,

Rocky Steps The Rocky Steps are 72 stone steps leading up to the East entrance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia that gained global fame after being featured in a notable scene from the 1976 film ''Rocky''. In the scene, Rocky Balboa, an u ...

and terraces at the

(1928) File:Cameron indoor.jpg,

, Durham, North Carolina (1940) File:Krzyzewskiville lawn2.jpg, Krzyzewskiville Lawn, Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina File:AllenBuilding.jpg, Allen Administrative Building, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina (1954)

References

External links

* *

— ''Duke University Historical Note, University Archives''.

— ''at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art''.

— ''Overview of an archival collection featuring Julian Abele''.
Julian Abele, Architect and the Beaux Arts
— ''Information on architect Julian Abele, including Building and Artwork Galleries''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Abele, Julian 1881 births 1950 deaths Architects from Philadelphia Burials at Eden Cemetery (Collingdale, Pennsylvania) Duke University people Cheyney University of Pennsylvania alumni University of Pennsylvania School of Design alumni University of the Arts (Philadelphia) alumni Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni African-American architects 20th-century American architects 20th-century African-American artists Artists from Philadelphia