Julian Abele
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Julian Abele (April 30, 1881–April 23, 1950) was a prominent African-American architect, known best for his work on the Duke University campus and on the Philadelphia Museum of Art. At the age of 28, Julian Abele became chief designer of the legendary Philadelphia architect firm, Horace Trumbauer. Abele attended the Quaker-run Institute for Colored Youth which later became Cheyney University, where he excelled in math and was chosen to deliver the commencement address. He completed a two-year architectural drawing course at the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art.Upon Abele's graduation in 1902 as the first black student in architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, Trumbauer financed further study for him at the Ecole Des Beaux Arts in Paris. This is historical legend. There is no record of Julian Abele having attended the Ecole Des Beaux Arts and his grandchildren have confirmed that he was with family on the west cosst at the time he was supposed to have been at teh Ecole. He did however visit Parisa and France and loved the area very much, taking influence froom teh architecture he found there.
Abele joined Trumbauer's firm in 1906, advancing to chief designer in 1909.
Abele designed or contributed to the design of some 250 buildings, including Harvard’s Widener Memorial Library, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Philadelphia Free Library, and many Gilded Age mansions in Newport and New York City.
